Zak Crawley has been ruled out of the Hundred with the broken finger he suffered dropping a catch in the third Test against West Indies.
The England opener is still waiting to learn the full extent of the injury to his little finger on his right hand, but it could be confirmed this week that he requires surgery. Crawley suffered the injury on Sunday, the third and final day of the third Test against West Indies. He dropped a catch at second slip before lunch and was rushed to hospital, where an X-ray revealed the fracture.
It has already been established that he is unavailable over the next three weeks in the Hundred and fears are rising that he could miss part or all of the three-Test series against Sri Lanka that begins on August 21.
Keaton Jennings has replaced Crawley in the Hundred with London Spirit and could become a candidate at the top of the order in the Test team, too. Insiders believe, however, that England would be more likely to shoe-horn Dan Lawrence, their unused spare batsman over the last 18 months, in to open, despite him usually being a middle-order player.
One certainty is that, if fit, England will have both Gus Atkinson and Mark Wood in their attack to face Sri Lanka. Atkinson was named player of his maiden Test series after picking up 22 wickets but admits the sight of Wood in full flight in the wins at Trent Bridge and Edgbaston has underlined the need to put on even more pace.
Atkinson touched 90mph in the series but Wood was consistently above that mark and bowled a scintillating spell of reverse-swing to finish the series in a hurry while Crawley was in hospital on Sunday.
“It will be pretty tough to get up to that sort of pace, but I will always be looking to improve my pace,” Atkinson said. “It’s my first time playing three games back to back, so physically it’s been a good test. But that is something I will try to improve on, getting my pace higher and higher.
“The quicker I can bowl the better. Definitely something I will focus on, and it’s just trying to get quicker for long periods of time.”
Atkinson revealed how he changed his run-up – straightening and lengthening it by three metres – after returning from the tour of India in March, where he was an unused reserve. Atkinson pulled out of the IPL to focus on earning a Test debut and it has paid off handsomely.
“I changed my run up,” he explained. “That was something I felt I needed to do. I didn’t feel consistent at the crease, so improving my run-up has helped a lot. That is the reason why I pulled out of the IPL, to get ready for the Test summer. I feel playing for Surrey in the championship was important. Equally playing in the Blast helped me get rhythm for the series. I have done anything too crazy but just a few changes.”
Wood will sit out the Hundred but England’s other Test players will appear in the tournament in the coming weeks. First back is Harry Brook, who captains Northern Superchargers on Tuesday evening against Southern Brave.
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