England fast bowler Olly Stone will miss the rest of the summer season after suffering a stress fracture of the back.
ECB recently announced a 16-man squad for three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka, to be played later this month. The squad saw the likes of George Garton receiving his maiden call-up for the nation after Olly Stone's injury, which means he will miss the rest of the 2021 season.
England head coach Chris Silverwood confirmed the same saying that it is a great shame as Olly Stone is a promising talent. He admitted that the pacer was in their selection plan for the Sri Lanka series.
"Unfortunately, following the second Test at Edgbaston against New Zealand, Olly Stone has been diagnosed with a stress fracture of his lower back and will miss the rest of the summer with the injury. It is a great shame as Olly was showing real promise with the ball and would have been part of our selection plans for this series," Chris Silverwood said in an ECB statement.
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Talking about George Garton, Silverwood said that have been keeping an eye on the left-arm pacer for several seasons and he deserves his chance at the highest level.
“We have been monitoring the progress of George Garton for quite some time. His ability to bowl quickly with his point of difference being a left-arm certainly gives us options in this series, and he deserves his chance at this level,” he said.
More good news came for England concerning Ben Stokes, who is due to feature in his first game for more than two months when Durham face Birmingham Bears in the Vitality Blast on Sunday.
The ODI series between England and Sri Lanka will start from 29th June followed by the second and third ODI to be played on July 1st and 4th respectively.
Here’s the England squad for the ODI series:
Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler (wkt), Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, George Garton, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
