England’s Ashes preparations suffered a setback today when Moeen Ali and Steven Finn were ruled out of this weekend’s opening tour match against a Western Australia XI.
Moeen has been troubled by soreness in his left side while Steven Finn injured his left knee batting in the nets at Richardson Park in Perth, although the fast bowler’s fitness will not be as much of a concern as Moeen’s.
Both players will have scans on Friday to ascertain the seriousness of their injuries.
With three weeks to go before the First Test in Brisbane, Standard Sport understands England are not overly concerned about Moeen’s fitness at this stage. But they will hope his scan does not show up anything sinister after he missed today’s training session.
Ben Stokes is already absent thanks to the police investigation into his late-night altercation in Bristol in September and losing another key all-rounder in Moeen, even for part of the series, would be a major blow.
If tomorrow’s scan only shows a minor strain, the tourists may still consider bringing in another batsman as cover, with Tom Westley the most likely candidate
