England will be without leading wicket-taker Reece Topley for the rest of the World Cup season due to a suspected broken finger and have already ruled out Jofra Archer as a possible replacement. Reigning champions England suffered a colossal 229-run thrashing against South Africa in Mumbai on Saturday, leaving their hopes of a successful title defense hanging by a thread. Their record international defeat in a single day was made worse when England coach Matthew Mott confirmed that Topley was unlikely to make another appearance at the tournament.
“We’re still waiting for confirmation on Reece’s finger. It looks like it’s a crack, that’s an early diagnosis,” Mott told Sky Sports.
“It is very likely that there is a fracture there, which will make it difficult for him to continue playing.”
Topley, who has taken eight wickets in three matches, was struck on the index finger of his bowling hand as he tried to block a drive in his follow-through.
The left-arm paceman’s career has been plagued by injury problems and he missed England’s triumphant T20 World Cup win in Australia last year after a freak accident that saw him trip over a boundary sponge on the eve of the tournament.
On Saturday he returned to the attack and managed to sack Aiden Markram and David Miller.
But he was not at his best and eventually conceded 88 runs from his 8.5 overs as Heinrich Klaasen and Marco Jansen ran riot as they took the Proteas to a huge total of 399-7.
Archer, one of the stars of England’s 2019 World Cup triumph, joined the squad earlier this week but the fast bowler has not played competitively since May.
His time in India is mainly seen by England as an opportunity for the medical staff to assess Archer’s progress as he continues to recover from a long-term elbow injury.
“Jofra Archer is not eligible for selection,” Mott said.
England could call up injury replacements, with Brydon Carse a possible option.
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