Narine cleared following injury scare; Broad out of T20 series
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) – Injury fears surrounding West Indies’ champion off-spinner Sunil Narine were put to rest on Monday, when he was declared fit to face England in the second Twenty20 International tomorrow (Tuesday, March 11).
Narine appeared to jar his knee badly in attempting a sliding save on the third man boundary in the seventh over of the England reply, during the opening T20I at Kensington Oval on Sunday.
However, a West Indies Cricket Board release on Monday said that Narine has recovered and would be considered for selection.
“West Indies spinner Sunil Narine has recovered from the knee injury he suffered during Sunday’s first T20 International against England at Kensington Oval,” the statement said.
“He was due to have a scan on Monday morning but it was not required.”
Narine is the leader of the Windies attack in the game’s shorter formats, and currently tops the ICC T20 bowling rankings.
Meanwhile England captain Stuart Broad has been ruled out of the remainder of the Twenty20 International series against West Indies with a knee injury.
The all-rounder, who led England in the preceding one-day series in Antigua and the opening T20I on Sunday, said he was struggling with patellar tendonitis and would miss the remaining matches on Tuesday and Thursday.
“I’ve got some patella tendinitis in my right knee. I’ve had it all winter. It’s just been a managing thing all winter, but obviously the workload has been quite heavy for me – and it’s gradually got a little bit worse,” said Broad, who only bowled two overs and showed visible signs of discomfort while batting during Sunday’s opening T20.
“I caught my knee in the sand in [the one-day series in] Antigua, which has brought a lot of fluid into it. So there’s not much movement in there, and I’ll be missing the next two Twenty20s to have an injection to get right for the warm-up games in Bangladesh.”
Broad is expected to lead England to the World T20 Championship later this month, where they will battle South Africa, Sri Lanka and New Zealand in Group I of the March 16 to April 6.
