Reece Topley left the field due to injury for the second time in consecutive matches during the opening powerplay of their clash against South Africa, after copping a blow to his index finger attempting to stop field a Rassie van der Dussen drive off his own bowling.
Topley tried to stop the ball before it went past him, and managed to grab the ball with his left hand, but the ball touched his fingertips in the process. After this attempt, Topley quickly became unwell and a physical therapist was called in for treatment.
Spray was applied to the index finger and replays showed the ball hit around the nail. After the physio left the pitch, Topley ran in to play the next ball (the fifth of the over), but the ball was too high and hit another four off Van der Dussen.
As soon as Topley finished playing the ball, he left the field and signaled for his substitute to come out. Joe Root was asked to bowl the last ball of the over and conceded a hit.
The injury added to England’s concerns early in the game. Adil Rashid has spent the majority of matches off the pitch so far, with him reportedly suffering from an illness. England removed Chris Woakes, Sam Curran and Liam Livingstone from their starting XI and added Ben Stokes, Gus Atkinson and David Willie.
England make three changes to their starting XI vs South Africa:
Aiden Markram will lead the Proteas in South Africa’s absence from injured Themba Bavuma. #CWC2023 #ENGvsSA pic.twitter.com/nWkpU9tb4E
– Wisden (@WisdenCricket) 21. October 2023
This change means that the bowling options are limited and Stokes plays as a specialist batsman. Root is their sixth bowling option, but only Dawid Malan and Harry Brooke in the squad have bowled in international cricket before.
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