Eoin Morgan ruled out of ICC 2011 World Cup, injuries increase
England has suffered a big blow ahead of the World Cup as the left handed middle-order batsman, Eoin Morgan, is ruled out of the tournament due to a finger injury, which was sustained and subsequently aggravated during the last three
matches of the ODI series against Australia.
England coach, Andrew Flower, confirmed to the media that the Irishman is not going to take part in the biggest One Day tournament.
Morgan will be replaced by Ravi Bopara, who has been in and out of the playing eleven in the last few months, to play in the tournament.
"His [Morgan's] finger needs to be operated on, so that's a serious loss to us", Flower said. "He's been a very influential limited-overs performer for us since he joined the England team. Ravi Bopara, who is a very exciting young
cricketer in his own right, is going to be joining us and is flying back from the West Indies where he is playing with the England Lions. He'll be arriving in the country tomorrow and joining us on the flight to Dhaka".
Bopara has been in good form and has made good use of most of the opportunities that have come his way. He is set to play a crucial role at the end of the innings due to his ability of clearing the ropes as well as the ability of rotating
the strike as and when needed.
On the other hand, the English team is going to miss the great abilities of Morgan and above all his icy cool nature and the way he absorbs pressure at the highest level of the game.
His unavailability comes as a serious blow to England as he has been one of their most valuable players in ODIs where he has played brilliantly and made the most of his talents, which brought him from representing minnows, Ireland
to a permanent place in one of the leading international teams.
"For the last 12 to 18 months, he's been the stand-out batsman for us in one-day cricket", Strauss told the press at Heathrow as the team prepared to board their flight to Dhaka. "We all see the World Cup as a forum for showcasing
your skills, so he's bitterly disappointed to be missing out. But that's the nature of the beast: you are going to get injuries”.
Like the Australians the English team has been hit hard with a spate of injuries on the eve of the tournament, even now there are doubts on some of the players with Tim Bresnan leading the list.
The Aussies have lost Nathan Hauritz and Mike Hussey, while the Indians were also forced to make a change to their team after swing bowler, Praveen Kumar, failed to recover in time from an elbow injury.
The rigours of international cricket are taking its toll on various teams as they bid to prepare for the mega event, which has already been marred by ill-planning in India and Bangladesh.
The tournament itself is going to be an arduous one, many cricketing experts from around the world have criticized the format where the group matches would be followed by sudden death quarter-finals, which would bring an abrupt end
to the tournament for four of the major teams.
Before the quarter-finals as many as 42 games are to take place and unless there is a major upset seven teams are virtually through to the knock out round as they are required to beat the minnows only in their groups to go through
the next round.
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