our correspondent
\nlondon
\nEngland captain Eoin Morgan suffered a \u201csmall fracture\u201d to his left index finger on Friday, but is expected to be fit in time for the hosts\u2019 World Cup opener against South Africa next week.
\nMorgan was practising with his teammates at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton ahead of Saturday\u2019s unofficial World Cup warm-up against Australia when he took a blow during catching drills.
\nIt was a major scare for England just six days before the World Cup favourites start their bid to win the competition for the first time, but there was relatively good news for Morgan after an X-ray showed the damage wasn\u2019t as bad as feared.
\n\u201cEngland captain Eoin Morgan has sustained a small flake fracture to his left index finger,\u201d an ECB statement said.
\n\u201cHe will not take part in the match (against Australia), but is expected to make a full recovery and be available for England\u2019s opening ICC Men\u2019s Cricket World Cup match against South Africa at The Oval on Thursday May 30.\u201d
\nMorgan, 32, was one of 14 players preparing at Hampshire\u2019s ground, with Joe Root absent on personal business. He has played 222 one-day internationals and averages 39.64 after hitting 12 centuries and 45 half-centuries.
\nEngland have climbed to the top of the ODI rankings under leadership of Morgan, who is also a key member of their powerful batting line-up.
\nEngland spinner Liam Dawson did not witness the incident but said the feeling from his team-mates was the Dublin-born left-hander\u2019s injury was not serious.
\n\u201cI was batting on the other side, so I didn\u2019t know what went on. When I came back to the dressing room a couple of the lads were talking,\u201d Dawson said.
\n\u201cI just heard he got hit on the finger. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s too bad.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
our correspondent london England captain Eoin Morgan suffered a \u201csmall fracture\u201d to his left index finger on Friday, but is expected to be fit in time for the hosts\u2019 World Cup opener against South Africa next week. Morgan was practising with his teammates at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton ahead of Saturday\u2019s unofficial World Cup […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n