England bowler Reece Topley has blasted the advertising 'Toblerones' around the boundary rope as 'unsafe' after he was ruled out of the T20 World Cup due to an ankle ligament injury.
Topley, who was set to play a key role in England's tournament after remarkably battling back from five stress fractures of the back across a six-year period, was robbed of the chance after he ruptured his ankle ligaments during a fielding drill in Brisbane ahead of the warm-up game against Pakistan.
While practicing boundary saves, Topley got his spikes caught in the plastic coating on the advertising 'Toblerone', went over on his ankle and "ruptured all my ligaments on that outside part of my ankle and tore some muscles around it as well".
The 28-year-old has now called for change, with the size of the 'Toblerones', which are 20cm in height and five times that of the traditional boundary rope, what made his injury a World Cup ending one.
"People have said it's a freak accident and all I can do is point out the ankle-high boundary advertising right next to where a player stands throughout a game," Topley told the Daily Mail . "I don't think that really is a freak incident.
"It's happened before and it will probably happen again. People think the 'Toblerones' are fun and engaging but there's something there that doesn't facilitate anything. It can hinder you by being in your mind.
"Is it safe? No. Why is it there? Purely for money. It's not there to enhance the playing experience or broaden the game in any way."
England teammate Ben Stokes has also blasted them and called on the ICC to find a safer alternative, saying: "It's stupid. Unfortunately, it's taken one of our players to be ruled out of the World Cup to make people notice.
"I'm pretty sure it's something they can look at but you know what it's like – everybody wants to get their names on somewhere. But you look at player safety and the fact he's stood on it and it's ruptured ligaments and now he's out of the World Cup – it should be looked at.
"It's a shocker for Reece. We are all just absolutely gutted for him that he's missed out on this World Cup because he would have been one of the first names on the team sheet after the way he's performed."
