England vs Ireland Test: Premier English pacers James Anderson and Ollie Robinson have been ruled out of England’s one-off Test against Ireland at Lord’s starting June 1. Earlier this week, Robinson was cleared to play the test after scans showed no sign of injuries after he limped during Sussex’s County Championship match against Glamorgan. Robinson is reportedly experiencing irritation in his Achilles tendon, while Anderson suffered a groin strain during Lancashire’s match against Somerset earlier this month. Anderson and Robinson’s omission is to ensure that they are fully fit for The Ashes 2023, starting June 16. Follow ENG vs IRE Test LIVE Updates on InsideSport.IN.
Ashes 2023: Ollie Robinson cleared for Ireland test after injury scare
Both of these players have not bowled since then and there are also concerns over Ben Stokes, the all-rounder who had an injury-affected stint with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Head coach Brendon McCullum, speaking at the Lords’ as his side gathered for summer’s first training session, insisted his team would be ready to “play the cards you are handed”. This could include the first Test outing for Mark Wood this year, who was rested during New Zealand Test series in spring and had an IPL stint with Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).
“We have got a couple of niggles, so we are just monitoring those at the moment,” McCullum told Sky Sports as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
“Every team that goes into a series has got a couple of little things that you need to work through, but we are pretty confident we will have a good squad to be able to pick from. For the first Ashes Test, I think [Anderson and Robinson] should be fit. They would not be fit for this one against Ireland. We will just have to monitor it over this next sort of while, but we have got some great options right throughout the squad.”
Squad against Ireland: Ben Stokes (c), James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.
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