England are facing a bowling crisis at the dawn of the Test campaign, with Jimmy Anderson and Ollie Robinson ruled out of the match against Ireland at Lord’s this week and Mark Wood also a doubt. Ben Stokes’s ability to drag his injured knee through a few overs is also sufficiently uncertain that all Brendon McCullum, the England head coach, would say on the subject was that “I think he’ll bowl at some stage throughout the summer”.
Wood bowled during the team’s first training session at Lord’s on Monday and though England will not be inclined to take any risks with the first Ashes Test a fortnight away he could yet play on Thursday. “He looks like he is going all right. We’ll have to monitor,” McCullum said.
