Ashes 2019: Olly Stone injured, England loses another pace bowler

England’s reserve fast bowler Olly Stone has aggravated his past injury which effectively rules him out of the next two Ashes Tests. The pace bowler was injured in a training session. He now joins James Anderson and Mark Wood who are also suffering from fitness issues.

“It’s really disappointing for Olly that he’s been ruled out of action for such an important two weeks of cricket because of a reoccurrence of his back injury,” said Paul Farbrace,  the Warwickshire sport director. He told the county website, “At the moment there’s a bit of inflammation but he will undergo a scan so that we know the full course of treatment he can undertake with the club’s medical team and with the support of the ECB.”

“In the meantime, he needs to rest up before he can get his body strong again and ready to deal with the demands of being a fast bowler,” said Farbrace.

Past injuries

Stone’s career thus far has been frequently marred by injuries. In 2016, he suffered a knee injury while playing for Northamptonshire. This year after being named in the Test squad to play in West Indies, he was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his lower back. The 25-year old made his Test debut in the last month against Ireland at Lord’s and registered the figures of 3/29 in his only outing.

The absence of Stone now forces England to choose between Jofra Archer and Sam Curran as the candidates to replace Anderson for the second Test. Archer was not selected for the first Test since he wanted time to recuperate from a side strain suffered during the World Cup. The pacer then bowled 12.1 overs for Sussex’s 2nd XI in a recent match. He took 6 for 29 with his searing pace and a scored a quick-fire ton.

The second Test between England and Australia begins on 14th August at Lord’s. Australia won the first Test by 251 runs.