Graeme Swann injury scare creates panic in England ahead of Ashes series against Australia
Arguably the most important player in England’s Ashes squad off-spinning all-rounder Graeme Swann has injured his hand during a nets session, as the POMS build towards the start of the Ashes defence later this month.
Swann was hit by a ball (by Tim Bresnan) that thundered into his gloves, and he left the nets immediately to pay attention to the knock that was of grave concern to the English management.
However, fast bowler Stuart Broad brushed aside the concerns raised by the media. He claimed that it was only a mild blow and not something that Swann needs to be worried about much.
"He's fine. It's just a bit of precautionary strapping," Broad told reporters after the session. "I don't think he's in any trouble at all. He just got a bit of a blow, which you're used to in nets. I think he's pleased his thumb got him out of the running."
Swann later calmed the nerves of the English fans when he tweeted on social networking website Twitter. Possibly the best spinner in the world wrote that his hand was not badly hurt by the blow.
"Thanks to both of you who enquired about my thumb," Swann later wrote on his Twitter feed. "It's fine; I just like my boiled eggs runny."
Meanwhile, the English camp has played down the recent poor run of form of the Aussies, who have lost 5 international matches in all formats of the game, a run that started with a defeat to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 in the neutral Test match at Headingley, Leeds.
Stuart Broad thinks that the Aussies would be firing on all cylinders when the first Ashes test begins at the Gabba in Brisbane, hence all this talk of them not being in the right frame of mind was irrelevant.
The tall bowler, who struck his maiden Test hundred in the last Test match of the English summer at Lord’s, insisted that England would not be reading anything into the results, including the latest Aussie defeat at the hands of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 in a T20 match at the WACA in Perth.
"It's a completely different format of the game, and I think there are only two or three players who were involved last night and look in the frame for the first Ashes Test match," he said. "So there's certainly nothing we can take from last night as an England team."
The Australians are still the favourites to win the ultimate prize in Test cricket, as they have an impeccable record at home against their old enemies in recent years.
The last Ashes series to be played Down Under went in Australia’s favour 5-0; the whitewash was the first in an Ashes series for nearly 86 years.
Out of the last 10 Tests played between the two teams in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746, the hosts have been victorious on as many as 9 occasions, with England’s lone win coming courtesy a magical spell of fast bowling by Andrew Caddick at the SCG in Sydney in 2002-03.
In that series, the hosts won two out of the four Tests by a margin of an innings, as they thrashed their opponents.
The result was similar in the 2006-07 series that was as one-sided, with England’s only chance of salvaging a draw coming at Adelaide in the second Test which was blown away by a stunning collapse on the last day of the match.
This time around, the contest is expected to be a lot more enthralling as the current Aussie line-up is not even half as formidable as the one that played in the 2006-07 series. That being said, however, they have that determination and killer instinct that only teams from the Down Under are known for.
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