England's Tom Westley sidelined for 12 weeks

English cricketer Tom Westley has been sidelined for around 12 weeks after undergoing a successful finger surgery in Leeds, the England Cricket Board (ECB) said in a statement on Monday (December 4). Westley got injured while fielding for England Lions in their three-day match against Queensland select last week in Brisbane. He has also been ruled out of the tour to West Indies, which starts early next year. The squad will be announced later this month.

Westley was impressive in his debut game against South Africa, as he made a 59 but the batter failed to put up consistent digits against his name and therefore missed out on a possible Ashes berth.”I didn’t score enough runs to warrant a place on that trip,” Westley said. Going into the England set-up I wanted to replicate what brought me success at Essex, which I don’t think is bad.”

Westley sounded confident few months ago

Talking to BBC earlier, the batter said: “Where there’s innings after innings, game after game, I sort of strip back my preparation to make sure I’m ready for Essex – but I think with England that extra time I can probably use a bit more wisely.”

The 28-year-old was instrumental in Essex winning their first County Championship title in 25 years in September and inked a new two-year deal in October. “There’s a few bits around my preparation,” Westley added. “I think, naturally, when you make a step up everything else has to step up with that. That can be preparation building into a game – you get a little bit more time in between Test matches than you do in county cricket.