England star Ben Stokes might miss the World Cup opener towards New Zealand as a consequence of a hip damage, with captain Jos Buttler admitting Wednesday “it’s not the time to take risks”.
Defending champion England and the Black Caps will start the 10-nation, 45-day showpiece event at Ahmedabad’s 132,000-capacity stadium on Thursday.
“He (Stokes) has got a slight niggle in his hip. Fingers crossed that it’ll be good news for us,” Buttler advised reporters.
“He is working hard with the physios and we’ll know more when the guys arrive for training today. We’ll make the right call: if he’s not fit to play, he’s not fit to play.
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He added: “It’s not the time to take big risks at the start of the tournament. It’s going to be a long tournament.”
The 32-year-old Stokes was chosen for the World Cup as a specialist batsman after a long-standing knee damage dominated out his function as a bowler.
Harry Brook might be included within the crew for his seventh ODI since his 50-over debut in January if Stokes misses out.
Buttler praised the swashbuckling batsman.
“We all know what a fantastic player he is. The start of an international career that’s been outstanding – in T20 cricket and the Test format,” Buttler stated of the 24-year-old Brook.
“He’s not played loads of ODI cricket, but it’s a format that should suit him perfectly. It will allow him to bat for a long time and make big runs and that’s something he enjoys doing.”
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Thursday’s sport shall be a rematch of the 2019 closing at Lord’s, which was selected boundary countback after the scores had been degree after a brilliant over.
England received the most recent ODI collection between the 2 sides at house 3-1 in September.
It was in that collection that Stokes struck the best rating by an England batsman in a one-day worldwide, his 182 organising a thrashing of New Zealand at The Oval.
Buttler stated the 2019 World Cup closing win — below Eoin Morgan — won’t have a bearing on Thursday.
“No, I don’t. Four years ago is a long time,” stated Buttler.
“It was a fantastic match with New Zealand, and we’ve had some fantastic games against them. They’re an excellent team. We expect a really tough match and we’re excited for the first match of the World Cup.”
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Buttler, who led the crew to a T20 World Cup title final 12 months, stated there is no such thing as a added stress of being the primary England captain to defend their ODI title.
“I think I’ve spoken quite a bit about not feeling like we’re defending anything,” stated Buttler.
“We’re here very much in the same position now as every other team. We’re here to try and win the World Cup. We’re all starting in the same place and have big dreams and ambitions of going all the way.”
Source web site: sportstar.thehindu.com
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