England's Robinson ruled out of opening test against the West Indies

England seamer Ollie Robinson has been ruled out of the opening test against the West Indies starting on Tuesday...
07 Mar, 2022

England seamer Ollie Robinson has been ruled out of the opening test against the West Indies starting on Tuesday after failing to recover from a back spasm, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said.

The 28-year-old sustained the problem during a warm-up match in Antigua against a Cricket West Indies President's XI and did not bowl on the final day of that game before missing training on Sunday.

The uncapped Saqib Mahmood was named in the 12-man squad for the opening test at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua, with the final team to be announced at the toss.

"Ollie is a talented bowler. Naturally he'll be a big miss," all-rounder Chris Woakes told reporters.

"He's shown in his short test career so far that he's certainly got the skills and the ability to do good things in the format.

At the same time, it gives people opportunities.

"We're trying to win games cricket here, but it does give that chance to someone to potentially make their test debut who has been waiting in the wings for quite a while to show what they can do at this level."

Fast bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Broad, who have taken a combined 1,177 wickets in test cricket, have not been selected in the 16-player squad for the three-test series.

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