London: Steven Finn has been ruled out of England’s tour of Australia with a knee injury, the ECB have confirmed. Fast bowler Finn missed last weekend’s opening warm-up match at the WACA and was sent for a scan, along with Moeen Ali, to discover the full extent of their injuries. While influential all-rounder Moeen has recovered from a side strain, Finn will now return home after suffering a torn left knee cartilage.
Steven Finn will miss the remainder of England’s tour of Australia after scans revealed that he has a torn left knee cartilage,’ the ECB said in a statement. ‘The Middlesex seamer sustained the injury during practice last week in Perth and will now return to the UK in the 48 hours where he will meet a knee specialist to ascertain whether he will have an operation.
‘England will announce his replacement for the rest of the tour in due course.’ On Moeen, head coach Trevor Bayliss confirmed he had recovered but would still miss the day-night match in Adelaide this week as a precaution. ‘Moeen will be fine. We’ll probably leave him out of the first game as a precaution, but he’ll play the last game before the first Test,’ he told BBC Sport.
Finn, 28, was called up to England’s Ashes squad after Ben Stokes’ arrest but will return to the UK in the next 48 hours to meet with specialists ahead of possible surgery. Before the first Ashes Test starts on November 23, England play two more warm-up matches against a Cricket Australia XI – the first is a day-night game that starts on Wednesday.
