| ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 |
|---|
| Dates: 30 May – 14 July, 2019 |
| Live coverage: Ball-by-ball commentary on Test Match Special, plus text commentary, clips and highlights on the BBC Sport website |
England bowler Mark Wood will be fit to face South Africa in the opening game of the World Cup on Thursday.
He went off in the defeat by Australia in the warm-up game on Saturday after feeling discomfort in his left foot.
The Durham bowler had his foot scanned and has been passed fit to play – although he did not feature in Monday’s warm-up against Afghanistan.
“I’ve had a lot of problems in the past so it was a belief. The scan was really positive,” Wood told TMS.
“I didn’t think my World Cup was over, I just didn’t want to take any risks. It was literally as good a result as I could have hoped for so I’m delighted I can carry on.
“I’m ready to go. I am going to take a full part in training in a couple of days’ time and prepare as normal for the match.”
Captain Eoin Morgan was available to bat against Afghanistan after recovering from a small flake fracture to his finger but was not needed as England won by nine wickets.
Morgan, who sustained the injury to his left index finger during catching drills last Friday and missed the game against Australia, did not field as a precaution so vice-captain Jos Buttler took control when England bowled.
“Every day my finger is feeling better so I’m gearing up to play on Thursday. I had a good hit this morning before the game and it has improved significantly, so that’s good news,” said Morgan.
“The closer I got to the X-ray, the more I realised it wasn’t as bad as it looked to start with. There is a lot of hard work that’s gone into the preparation over the last four years for this World Cup and I’m delighted I can still be part of it.”
Spinner Adil Rashid has been struggling with a shoulder problem but bowled six overs against Afghanistan with no issues and says he will be “100% fit” for England’s World Cup opener.
“The shoulder is not too bad, I’m coming back into match practice now,” said Rashid. “A few more sessions and hopefully I should be good to go again on Thursday.
“I’ll be on top of managing it in the tournament. The management know that as well, it’s important to manage it.”
