Too much cricket?
English World Cup Squad Injuries:
Eoin Morgan: Fractured middle finger on left hand in fourth ODI against Australia
Tim Bresnan: Picked up calf injury during second ODI
Graeme Swann: Back strain kept him out of ODI series
Paul Collingwood: Back spasms sent him home after the sixth ODI
Ajmal Shahzad: Limped off pitch with hamstring injury during fifth ODI
Stuart Broad: Tore his abdominal muscle during second Ashes Test and didn’t feature in ODI series
(via Cricinfo)
Not forgetting Chris Tremlett who picked up a side strain during the one day series with Australia.
Australian World Cup Squad injuries
Ricky Ponting: broke his finger during the third test
Mike Hussey: pulled a hamstring running during the second ODI
Nathan Hauritz: dislocated his shoulder while fielding in the second ODI
Shaun Marsh and Xavier Doherty are also injured but not included in the World Cup squad.
No other cricket teams have played so much cricket over the last three months and with very little time to recover until the World Cup, the intensive schedule of 5 tests, 2 T20, and 7 ODI are looking increasingly foolish. The teams have used the full rotation of their squads during the bilateral series and now face an important tournament with fatigued players recovering from niggles and some more difficult injuries. With very little time until the teams must travel to the subcontinent this is going to make their preparations very difficult. England’s one day plans looked in tatters during the last series and Australia may well now need to quickly rethink with their key players on the sidelines.
Perhaps it’s time the administrators, took in some sporting considerations when they draw up their timetables instead of focusing on their financial bottom lines. Even putting that aside both sets of administrators need to consider the advantage of their teams being World Champions.
