David Willey named in England squad despite hand injury

England pacer David Willey has been named in the England squad despite the hand injury he suffered in the finals of the NatWest T20 Blast. Having been ruled out a few days back, Willey and his employers, the England Cricket Board (ECB) have completed a drastic U-turn and named him back in the squad with his injury not being a bone break, but just a simple bruise.

David Willey suffered the bruise in the final of the NatWest T20 Blast final when he was hit on the hand by a powerful drive from Mark Stoneman. However, in spite of this, Willey was able to bowl his four overs and also shocked and surprised many when he came out to open the batting for his championship county side. A few X-Rays after the conclusion of the encounter saw the ECB prematurely release a statement stating that he would indeed be ruled out of action. Jake Ball, who had made his debut in the first Test match against Pakistan at Lord’s was named as his replacement.

At the moment, however, it would seem as though Willey would be raring to go in the ODI series against England and impress like he had done previously. However, the ECB also went on to state that Jake Ball would indeed be a part of the team as a cover should Willey not be able to play for whatever the reason.

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“On further review today, David Willey has been cleared of a fracture to his left hand and he will rejoin England’s ODI squad on Thursday. His progress will be monitored by the medical team during the series,” the spokesperson said on Monday (August 22).

England ODI squad: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Jos Buttler (wk), Liam Dawson, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, David Willey

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