England all-rounders Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali will miss Friday’s dead rubber World Cup clash with Afghanistan due to injury.
Moeen is struggling with an abdominal strain to a left side while Woakes is being troubled by a left third metatarsal stress reaction.
The match in Sydney is meaningless for both sides as neither can progress out of Pool A, with England suffering a fatal 15-run defeat to Bangladesh in their last outing.
The loss came after a defeat to Sri Lanka by nine wickets while Peter Moores’ men have also had their colours lowered by Australia and New Zealand, with a 119-run win over Scotland proving to be the highlight of a dismal tournament.
The World Cup flop has piled the pressure on Moores, who only returned as coach last April, but Paul Downton, managing director of the England and Wales Cricket Board, has ruled out another shake-up in the aftermath of the disappointment.
He said following the Bangladesh defeat on Monday: “I’ve got full faith in Peter Moores. He will stay.
“Peter was brought in 10 months ago and part of that reason is because he’s such an experienced coach.
“Whoever got that job at that time was going to have a difficult time. We’re in a rebuilding phase so today’s the wrong time to be making any kind judgement at all.
“We’ll sit and review everything when we get back.”
England are 1.10 to beat Afghanistan (6.88) in New South Wales.
Leave a comment
Link Dafabet