England seamer Mark Wood to undergo fitness test ahead of West Indies match
Moeen Ali could return to England's XI as they target a third win in four games
Friday 14 June 2019 10:31, UK
Mark Wood will undergo a fitness test on his ankle ahead of England's World Cup match against West Indies in Southampton on Friday.
Pace bowler Wood reported soreness after the win over Bangladesh in Cardiff on Saturday and will be checked over by England's medical staff but Jos Buttler, who picked up a bruised hip in Saturday's victory, is fit to play.
Moeen Ali, left out of the win over Bangladesh, could return to the side having linked back up with the squad after the birth of daughter, Haadiya.
England captain Eoin Morgan said: "[Wood] is going to have a fitness test in the morning. It is his ankle, it's a little bit sore. If it is still sore [after training on Thursday] we probably won't take a risk.
"It's nothing too serious, he just pulled up a little bit sore from the game in Cardiff, he's the only concern at the moment. It will happen to other bowlers throughout the tournament. We're well aware of that.
"We will have to manage them as we would normally, as we do with Chris Woakes if there's back-to-back games. It's not a problem, it's just what happens."
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Ali could return in place of Wood, Woakes or Liam Plunkett and re-form his spin partnership with Adil Rashid.
Rashid has taken three wickets in three games at an average of 71 in the World Cup so far but head coach Trevor Bayliss hopes the leg-spinner, who had been battling a shoulder injury, will find his form if the pitches dry out.
"I think what he needs is more bowling whether that is in the nets or in a match," Bayliss said. "He did have a niggle in his shoulder, but over this last couple of weeks he hasn't had anywhere near as much of a problem with it.
"I don't think the wickets have necessarily been an advantage to the spinners yet, but the further we go through the competition and maybe get a bit of drier weather and play on used pitches, he may come into his own.
"Southampton is somewhere where we have played two spinners in the past. If Moeen does come back in - we'll have to look at the wicket first - then it is one of the pace bowlers who misses out. It is a difficult decision."
England have won 10 of their last 11 bilateral ODI series, with their only blip coming when they drew 2-2 in the West Indies earlier this year.
"We learnt a huge amount about growing our game out in the West Indies," added Morgan. "We are not getting carried away about some of the success we have had.
"I think it's important to have days where you are beaten or can't beat a side because you then look even more into areas of improvement, as opposed to beating sides convincingly."
England paceman Jofra Archer will come up against West Indies for the first time in his international career but the Barbados-born 24-year-old, who qualified to play for England earlier this year, says he is treating the match as "just another game of cricket".
I'm sure he will handle it like he's handled everything else in the tournament. Everything he has been confronted with, particularly out on the field, he has overcome. He's still learning, he's a very young, he has a lot of talent.
West Indies captain Jason Holder says he knows exactly what to expect from Archer.
"I have seen Jofra over the years. He is obviously a Barbadian. He's grown up in Barbados playing cricket so what I'm seeing of Jofra doesn't surprise me.
"It is just unfortunate how things went in terms of his decision-making, but he is a good talent.
"As I said before, he's English. I'm not going to get flustered over it. Our role in this World Cup is to play against England in this game tomorrow and our role is to beat England."
Holder has plenty of pace at his disposal with seamers Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas and Andre Russell among West Indies' ranks.
Russell missed the rain-affected clash with South Africa on Monday with an on-going knee injury and remains doubtful but Evin Lewis is set to return from a hand injury.
You can watch every match of the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup on Sky Sports Cricket World Cup (channel 404), including England's next game against West Indies from 10am on Friday.
