The game England did not want has led to the outcome they most feared: another freak injury and another key player out of the T20 World Cup. Scans have shown that Reece Topley’s trip over the advertising cushions at the Gabba in Brisbane during fielding practice before Monday’s warm-up against Pakistan has led to two ruptured ligaments in his left ankle, and he will fly home before England’s tournament has even begun.
Tymal Mills – one of three travelling reserves, and the player Topley replaced in the 2021 World Cup squad midway through the tournament when Mills sustained a thigh injury – has been drafted into the squad as a replacement. Lancashire’s Luke Wood, who made his England debut in the recent tour of Pakistan, will now travel to Australia to join the group as a reserve, and is expected to meet them in Melbourne at the start of next week.
