England might suffer a freak setback even before their campaign in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia begins, as pacer Reece Topley is in doubt for their opening match against Afghanistan to be played on October 22 in Perth.
Topley, 28, hurt his left ankle during a fielding drill in Brisbane ahead of their warm-up match against Pakistan on October 17. He stepped on a boundary padding while attempting a catch, doing some damage to his joint and eventually he missed the warm-up match that England won by 6 wickets against Pakistan on Monday.
On Tuesday (October 18), the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) released a statement saying that Topley will be assessed in the build-up to their T20 World Cup 2022 opener against Afghanistan in Perth.
The ECB said in a statement: “He will be assessed throughout this week ahead of England's ICC Men’s T20 World Cup opening fixture against Afghanistan in Perth on Saturday.”
Notably, if Topley fails to recover in time, David Willey is likely to be considered as his replacement, while England also has Tymal Mills as their traveling reserve, and they can promote him to the 15-member squad if the latter’s injury is serious.
Here’s England's squad for ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 –
Jos Buttler (C), Moeen Ali, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Alex Hales
(ECB inputs)
