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James Fuller has left Middlesex as Hampshire become his third county in four years

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Oct-2018Hampshire have signed Middlesex’s fast-medium bowler James Fuller on a three-year contract. It is Fuller’s third county in four years and continues his search for a club where he can make a lasting impression across all formats.Having started out with Otago in New Zealand, Fuller utilised a British passport to join Gloucestershire, where he claimed 89 wickets in 35 first-class appearances. He moved to Middlesex in 2016, making his debut against Hampshire that year and picking up a five-wicket haul.Fuller has claimed 141 first-class wickets in total at an average of 33.06 and, now 28, joins a Hampshire squad short on English-qualified seam-bowling resources. They have already recruited Keith Barker, the veteran left-arm seamer, from Warwickshire.Fuller has been a strong white-ball contributor throughout his career, helping Gloucestershire to win the 2015 Royal London Cup. He has claimed 70 List A wickets at 29.74, as well as 94 in T20 to go alongside a batting strike rate of 149.04.He also earned England Lions call-ups in 2016 and 2017, when he featured against Sri Lanka A and the UAE alongside Hampshire wicketkeeper-batsman, Tom Alsop.Hampshire’s director of cricket Giles White said: “James is a talented all-round cricketer with the ability to make an impact across all formats.”

Wicketkeeper Trisha Chetty and fast bowler Shabnim Ismail missed South Africa’s recent series against West Indies, but will return to a largely settled squad

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Oct-2018South Africa have named their squad for the first ever standalone ICC Women’s World T20 taking place in the West Indies in November. There is a familiar feel to the group and the selectors have kept the bulk of the squad that recently completed a limited-overs tour of the West Indies, including the rookie trio of Tumi Sekhukhune, Robyn Searle and Saarah Smith who will make their World Cup debuts.Fast bowler Shabnim Ismail and wicketkeeper Trisha Chetty will also return to action for the tournament. Neither had been part of the recent West Indies tour, with Chetty ruled out with a back injury while Ismail, who is South Africa’s leading wicket-taker in T20Is with 72 dismissals in 69 matches, stayed at home to be with her ailing father.While South Africa have been boosted by the pair’s return, they will be without fast bowler Ayabonga Khaka who has not sufficiently recovered from her shoulder surgery and was not considered for selection. The South Africans were also struck a further blow when offspinner Raisibe Ntozakhe, originally named in the squad of 15, was suspended from bowling in international cricket due to an illegal bowling action.As expected, Dané van Niekerk will captain the squad as well as performing pivotal roles with bat and ball. Van Niekerk is South Africa’s leading T20I runscorer with 1,505 runs. Just behind her is Mignon du Preez with 1,400, while both Lizelle Lee and Trisha Chetty have over 1,000 runs in the format.

South Africa’s squad

Dané van Niekerk (captain), Chloe Tryon, Lizelle Lee, Suné Luus, Shabnim Ismail, Masabata Klaas, Mignon du Preez, Marizanne Kapp, Laura Wolvaardt, Raisibe Ntozakhe, Zintle Mali, Robyn Searle, Tumi Sekhukhune, Saarah Smith, Trisha Chetty (wk)

While her top-order runs are undoubtedly handy, it is van Niekerk’s legspin that could make a real splash at a tournament in spin-friendly conditions. She has 49 wickets in the format for South Africa and also flourished at last season’s WBBL. She led the wickets tally for most of the season before leaving for national duty, picking up 20 dismissals with a strike rate of a wicket every 13 balls and an economy rate of just 5.57.Van Niekerk was part of the squad that reached the semi final of the 2014 World T20 in Bangladesh, and captained them to the semi final of the 2017 fifty over World Cup. During that time, she has been part of a squad that has stayed remarkably settled in selection, as well as playing more limited overs cricket than anyone else. Since the last Women’s World T20 in 2016, when they crashed out in the first round, South Africa have played 18 T20Is, winning eight.In the same time, they’ve also played 53 ODIs. With largely the same squad in both formats, South Africa have gained white-ball experience rapidly and earlier this month they held reigning champions West Indies to a 2-2 series draw in the Caribbean.”Good luck to our Proteas Ladies as they head for the West Indies with high expectations for the ICC Women’s World T20,” said Cricket South Africa Chief Executive Thabang Moroe. “They reached the semi-final of this tournament in Bangladesh in 2014 and came agonisingly close to a first appearance in a Final in last year’s ICC Women’s World Cup in England.”The time has now arrived for them to take that next step forward and get into the championship match.They can take a lot of justifiable confidence out of their recently completed tour of the West Indies where they drew both the ODI and T20 Series against their hosts who are the defending champions for the ICC World T20. They also had to make do without a number of key players.””From CSA’s perspective we have left no stone unturned in our support for Dané and her team to put them on the same level of preparation as our Proteas’ men’s team,” concluded Moroe.South Africa were automatic qualifiers for the sixth edition of the Women’s World T20, and the second to be held in the West Indies, who also hosted in 2010. South Africa will play in Group A in St Lucia against defending champions West Indies, England, Sri Lanka and World Cup Qualifier winners Bangladesh. Group B comprises Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan and Ireland.

The opener will will see a doctor before any decision is made on whether he would resume batting for New Zealand A

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Nov-2018Hamish Rutherford falls over while batting•Getty Images

Opener Hamish Rutherford , who copped a blow on his helmet, will see a doctor before any decision is made on whether he would resume batting for New Zealand A in the four-dayer against India A in Hamilton. Rutherford was struck by fast bowler Mohammed Siraj when he was on 9, and following an assessment, he sat out of the rest of the day. Will Young, the captain, though, made an unbeaten 117 as New Zealand A went to stumps at 221 for 5.Young, who was among the top performers for New Zealand A in the UAE, extended his form and hit 12 fours and two sixes. India A’s seamers, though, kept chipping away at the other end, reducing the hosts from 75 for 1 to 141 for 5. Young and Theo van Woerkom then put on an unbroken 80-run partnership to close out the day without any further setbacks.Siraj and Rajneesh Gurbani claimed two wickets each while Navdeep Saini took one.

Gesture possibly directed towards head coach who left him out of the limited-overs setup on fitness grounds

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Wellington18-Dec-2018In what was probably another dig at the decision to cut him from the ODI team in September, Angelo Mathews performed 10 push ups upon reaching an outstanding rearguard hundred in Wellington. He then flexed his biceps in the direction of the dressing room, from where coach Chandika Hathurusingha – who had been involved in the decision to drop him – was no doubt looking on.Mathews had been axed as ODI captain then dropped from Sri Lanka’s limited-overs teams entirely based on what Hathurusingha and the former selectors said were fitness grounds. Mathews had had several injury layoffs over the past two years, with his hamstrings and calves giving him particular trouble.Following Mathews’ omission from the limited-overs sides, Hathurusingha had also called into question Mathews’ running between the wickets, describing the number of run outs he had been involved in a “world record”.In late September, Mathews had publicly given voice to the sense of betrayal he had felt at being suddenly cut from the limited-overs teams, and had carried that hurt through to his next international outing – the Tests against England last month. Through the course of that series, Mathews struck three fifties, and at least twice made a gesture toward the dressing room, pointing to his bat and making a yapping motion with his gloves, to signal that he was letting his bat do the talking.The push-ups though, were the most colourful message yet. Mathews batted out testing spells on the third evening and all through day four, to finally reach triple figures off the 248th ball he faced. Having raised his bat, he immediately dropped to the ground, performed 10 quick push ups, got up, pointed to his head, then flexed a bicep. Partner Kusal Mendis, with whom he had put on Sri Lanka’s biggest ever stand against New Zealand, watched on, grinning.Although the celebration was ostensibly a jab at Hathurusingha, Sri Lanka’s coaches may reflect that dropping Mathews achieved exactly the results they were after. He has been a fitter and more productive player over the past six weeks, and has even begun bowling in internationals for the first time in nearly two years, sending down four overs in the first innings of the ongoing Test.”We’ve seen a re-igniting in Angelo now, which was not there in the last year,” bowling coach Rumesh Ratnayake said after stumps on day four. “Even though we saw a hundred against India, in the past six or seven months we’ve something entirely different. We’re seeing a different Angelo now. It’s brilliant.”Mathews had also top-scored for Sri Lanka in the first innings, with 83. This was his first Test century in over a year.

For Joe Burns, too, it was an emotional occasion as his fourth Test century came after a roller-coaster couple of seasons

Daniel Brettig in Canberra01-Feb-2019Australia’s vice-captain Travis Head raised his eyes to the heavens upon reaching his first Test century, and later spoke tearfully of how he had dedicated the innings to the late Phillip Hughes, his mentor and teammate until his death in 2014.Head played a classic counter-attacking innings in the company of opener Joe Burns to turn a wobbly Australian start against Sri Lanka into a dominant day one of the inaugural Canberra Test match, as their stand of 308 led the hosts to a commanding 4 for 384 by the close.In reaching three figures after several near-misses so far in his brief Test career, Head’s thoughts turned to Hughes, who had died after being struck by a short ball during a Sheffield Shield match at the SCG a little more than four years ago.”Yeah [I dedicated it to] a few, but Hughesy as well, a little bit emotional to be honest,” Head told SEN Radio before breaking into tears. “It was a little bit about trying to get the momentum back, it was a little like last week where we lost quick wickets and were a little bit under the pump, it was trying to get that momentum back. Last week I started my innings really well, left the ball really well, just tried to get that momentum back and get it to swing back our way. I felt like Burnsy and I were able to do that again.ALSO READ: Australia’s last resort Joe Burns makes their first hundred of the summer”To go out there and continue from last week, personally and as a team we put ourselves in a great position to get hundreds and weren’t able to, that was the disappointing part, but it was really good today to get out there, and once we got our chance, to make it massive.”At the other end, Burns said the emotion in Head’s celebration was certainly moving, leaving him to feel that all he wanted to do was offer his team-mate a long, strong hug to mark the moment.”He was very emotional for his first hundred, out in the middle you don’t ask how someone’s feeling [but] I was just over the moon for him,” Burns said. “To see a bloke, the hard work he’s done all summer and for a number of years playing against him, you knew how good a player he was.”It’s one of those innings today that’ll get him started in his Test career, get that first one out of the way and open the floodgates. I just wanted to hug him as hard as I could for as long as I could and just keep batting with him. It was really enjoyable.”Full credit to Trav, he comes out with great intent, puts the bowlers off their mark, and turns three early wickets into straightaway pressure back on the bowlers. And you could sense out there the left-hand/right-hand combination and being able to score in different areas and keep the scoreboard ticking all day meant their bowlers couldn’t get that build-up of pressure. That’s the key to a good partnership and really satisfying to do that for a long period.”Burns had plenty of his own reasons for being emotional, a little more than two years after a strong start to his Test career had been blown off course by none other than Sri Lanka on a troubled 2016 tour.Joe Burns kisses the badge on reaching his century•Getty Images

Since then, he has appeared at times to struggle to win the favour of the selectors, not least when twice picked then dropped immediately, in Hobart in late 2016 and then after the Johannesburg Test immediately following the Newlands scandal.”Look, it can be tough,” Burns admitted of how he had tried to process those episodes. “Two very different circumstances, both extreme the way they unfolded, but that’s not just cricket, that’s life sometimes, you can’t plan too far ahead, take the good with the bad. It makes days like today – when you get to kiss the badge on your helmet – bloody good, that’s for sure. It makes you really appreciate the good days because you never know when’s your last Test match or when you’re going to be out of the team.”You can’t take anything for granted, just have a responsibility to play as hard as you can and as best you can and what will be will be. It’s just one of those times where you appreciate a good day. You’ve got to do that in this game because you have a hell of a lot of bad days as well, so appreciate the fact it’s a good day and we’re just eager to come back tomorrow and do it all again hopefully and make tomorrow an even better day.”Coming into the day’s play, we knew the first hour was going to be pretty tough. Bit of grass on the wicket, bit of overheads, so despite losing the three wickets we knew we had to absorb that pressure they posed to us and we were also aware they were an inexperienced bowling attack that were going to present scoring opportunities if we could get through those tough periods. Last time I played Sri Lanka we got thumped, so I’ve got a hell of a lot of motivation to get out there and get a series win, that’s for sure.”Perspective, too, had come from the team’s visit to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra two days out from the start of the match. “I had that sense of your country and how lucky we are to play cricket for Australia,” Burns said, “And how much you just want to make runs for the Australian people and get the chance to get to a hundred and have the crowd applaud you like that, there’s nothing better.”

The left-arm spinner expects Ireland to push Afghanistan much harder in the ODIs – “a format that suit us” – than they did in the T20Is

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Mar-2019Andy Balbirnie was the star of the Ireland show as they trumped Afghanistan by four wickets in the third ODI in Dehradun, his 145 not out helping the Irish go over the line with an over to spare to level the series. But Balbirnie needed support, and it came from somewhat unexpected quarters: George Dockrell, who has made his name as a left-arm spinner, added 143 runs for the fifth wicket with Balbirnie.”I obviously came into the team as a bowler, but these days it is important to keep improving all aspects of your game. I was a batter at under-age level, and I’ve been encouraged to keep working on my batting over the years, but the way I see it now is that all three aspects – my batting, my bowling, my fielding – they all have to be as good as they can possibly be at all times,” Dockrell told Cricket Ireland after hitting only his second half-century in 80 ODIs.”The game definitely has developed in the last number of years – you look at teams around the world and you see there are guys coming in lower down the order winning matches. That’s what you have to have – a batting line-up that bats deep. There’s not too many bowlers around the world these days who can’t play a little cameo with the bat, so it is more and more important these days that bowlers coming into the team are looking to add value with the bat as well as the ball.”At their new ‘home’ in the northern part of India, the Afghans would have backed their chances of going 2-0 up after three games – the second one was abandoned by rain – when Najibullah Zadran’s 104 not out and Asghar Afghan’s 75 helped them put up 256 for 8. Batting was expected to get tougher after that, but as Balbirnie and Dockrell showed, it was mainly a matter of application and approach.”There’s a different challenge here in India where we have a slightly bigger pitch, and the pitch has spun a little bit,” Dockrell said. “The wickets here in Dehradun are changing as the series is going on. Because the series is being played at the one stadium, we are reusing wickets, which has meant that they have tended to become a bit slower and a little bit lower.”The pitches have also seemed to offer a little more spin in the last couple of games, so it’s been about trying to deceive batsmen more with lateral movement than with depth.”And though Afghanistan swept the preceding series 3-0 and were tipped to outperform Ireland in the ODIs quite comprehensively, expect the Irish to put up a strong show in the format they are best at.”In the T20s the Afghans showed some pretty incredible power-hitting that we weren’t able to keep up with, it was a huge challenge trying to minimise their batsmen and their ability to strike the ball. We went in to those games with our plans – and back-up plans – to counteract their attack, but the biggest learning we had was the need to be able to adapt quickly,” Dockrell said.”The ODIs are definitely a format that suit us – there’s always good games when we play the Afghans in ODIs, and there has indeed been some good games so far in this series.”The fourth ODI will be played on Friday, and the fifth is scheduled for Sunday, with a Test to follow later this month.

England bowler to lead side in county curtain-raiser in Dubai on March 24

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Feb-2019Stuart Broad has been named as MCC’s captain for the annual Champion County Match, which will take place against Surrey in Dubai next month.Broad, who is currently in St Lucia with England’s Test team but is no longer a part of the one-day set-up, will use the match as part of his long-term preparations for a delayed first-class leg of England’s home summer.With the build-up to the World Cup dominating the early part of the season, Broad’s next international action is likely to come in the one-off Test against Ireland at Lord’s on July 24, ahead of the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston, starting on August 1.John Stephenson, MCC’s assistant secretary, said: “We are thrilled that Stuart has agreed to captain the side for the Champion County match against Surrey. He is not only a player of the very highest class, but his experience of over 100 Test matches will be invaluable to the younger players in the squad, and I am sure that they will be eager to learn from one of England’s greatest ever bowlers.”Surrey were undoubtedly the best side in last season’s County Championship and have an extremely strong squad, so it will be a tough challenge for Stuart and his side but one I am sure they will relish.”The rest of the MCC squad will be named in due course, with the four-day game scheduled to begin on March 24.Broad, 32, is one of only two Englishmen to have taken over 400 Test wickets, and has a special place in MCC’s history, as one of only a handful of players to have earned a place on three dressing-room honours boards, with inclusions on the Honours Board five-wicket and ten-wicket hauls in Test matches, as well as his 169 with the bat against Pakistan in 2010.He has had previous captaincy experience, having led England on 27 occasions in T20Is between 2011 and 2014, including the World T20 in Bangladesh in 2014, and a further three ODIs on the tour of the Caribbean in 2014.Last year’s Champion County match took place in Barbados, where MCC beat the 2017 County Champions Essex by an innings and 34 runs, thanks to centuries from Sam Hain and Dom Bess, who also claimed six wickets.

The teenaged fast bowler took 3 for 30 as Peshawar Zalmi lost to the Gladiators for the fourth time this season

The Report by Danyal Rasool17-Mar-2019The closing ceremony, understandably, was stripped to bare bones, shorn of all the dances that adorned the opening ceremony as a mark of respect for the victims of the terror attack in Christchurch last week.Unfortunately, the un-embellished nature of the festivities extended to the cricket itself, throwing up a final largely devoid of the usual drama, theatre, and excitement that enlivened so many games across the PSL this season. But that did not detract from Quetta Gladiators’ near-flawless performance, as the best team in the competition rose to the occasion on its most important day to inflict a heavy defeat on Peshawar Zalmi. It was the fourth time the two had met this season, with Quetta, under the savvy guidance of Sarfaraz Ahmed, prevailing each time. This one was perhaps the most comfortable, with Quetta easing to their first PSL crown with an emphatic eight-wicket win achieved in 17.5 overs.Peshawar’s heroes in the eliminator, Kamran Akmal and Imam-ul-Haq, both fell cheaply on Sunday, and that meant the middle order – which lacked Liam Dawson – had to consolidate for much of the innings. The run rate consequently took a hit and, in the final overs, left Kieron Pollard and Darren Sammy to provide the fireworks. Much like the rest of the Peshawar side, they failed to live up to the occasion. All five of Quetta’s bowlers had brought their A games to help them march to a title they hadn’t won before, and their hunger was evident in their game. Peshawar’s formidable fast bowling line-up may have felt they could defend almost anything, but Quetta are expert chasers, and the 138 for 8 that Peshawar put up never looked like challenging Quetta.Mohammad Hasnain celebrates Imam-ul-Haq’s dismissal•Pakistan Cricket Board

Mohammad Hasnain, who will turn 19 in three weeks and who is less than a week away from a likely Pakistan debut, showed why he is so highly rated with a sublime four-over spell in the biggest game of his young career. He tore chunks out of the Peshawar top and middle order, intense with his pace and stingy with the runs, hurrying on to batsmen and ushering them back to the pavilion in a hurry. The accuracy, too, for an inexperienced man with pace like his, was remarkably unerring and – though we’ve seen this movie many times before – here is another young Pakistani quick with the world at his feet.Imam was the first to go off Hasnain’s third delivery, the extra bounce beating him and taking a top edge. After Umar Amin had got a middle-order partnership going in the absence of heroics from the Peshawar openers, Hasnain was brought back into the attack and struck with his first delivery. He rushed on to Amin, who could only jab the ball to the square-leg fielder. The big fish was yet to come, and he toyed with Pollard for a full over, before coming back with a vengeance after being struck for four. It was another short, quick ball that did the damage, Pollard looking to pull but only managing an edge to the keeper.This was a real team chasing a real honour, no hit-and-giggle exhibition where the result didn’t matter. That was why Fawad Ahmed, still visibly uncomfortable following a nasty blow to the face that required stitches and surgery a few days ago, decided to take the field again, delivering his usual sublime spell of legspin bowling. He got the ball to spit and fizz, making Peshawar’s decision not to play Dawson all the more puzzling.Rilee Rossouw and Ahmed Shehzad walk off the field after winning PSL 2019•PCB

The only moment of doubt in the chase came when Shane Watson was run out after Ahmed Shehzad called him for a suicidal single. Amin completed a direct hit to run the Australian out, and Imam generously offered a verbal spray that Watson didn’t seem to particularly enjoy. Quetta, however, were enjoying the occasion, and Shehzad took control of the chase to ensure Peshawar were never allowed to get their hopes up.Not that Peshawar didn’t try. They used seven different bowlers, two of them spinners who ideally shouldn’t have been bowling in a game of this magnitude with the margin for error so small. Wahab Riaz and Hasan Ali put in typically spirited performances, Wahab in particular raising Peshawar’s hopes one final time after he dismissed Ahsan Ali, hoping to trigger a mini-collapse that would allow Peshawar to sneak back into the game. But in Shehzad and Rilee Rossouw, Quetta had too much experience to panic, and too much quality lower down the order to allow any real pressure to be felt.In the end, Rossouw struck the winning runs while Shehzad ended unbeaten on a 51-ball 58. A fixture in the Quetta side since he joined in 2017, Rossouw had been particularly sincere in his apologies when deciding not to come to Pakistan in 2017, citing security concerns. On that day, Quetta had fallen to the very same opponents in a game that they had never really been able to get into. Here, with Rossouw, Watson and all of Quetta’s overseas contingent present, they were able to pay Peshawar back in kind. It might not have been a final for the ages, but over the years, as Sarfaraz and his men wind down their careers, tonight will go down as one of the most prominent highlights.

Leicestershire need 267 on final day with 10 wickets in hand

ECB Reporters Network16-May-2019John Simpson’s first County Championship half-century for two years kept Middlesex in contention on a riveting third day against Leicestershire at Lord’s.It was 2017 the last time the doughty wicketkeeper reached such heights willow in hand, but here he was at his obdurate best, dragging his side from the mire of 114 for 8 in the wake of superb bowling from Seaxe old boy Chris Wright, who took 3 for 51, and Tom Taylor’s 3 for 74. His more than three-hour vigil saw him finish 59 not out and left Leicestershire a target of 305.However, the Foxes survived unscathed to the close, reaching 38 without loss and raising hopes of a first win for the county at Lord’s since 1980.Leicestershire began the day 257 for 9 in their first innings and added a further 11 before Tom Helm uprooted Wright’s off-stump with one which seamed in off the wicket. That gave the hosts a lead of 81, but they were soon in trouble second time around.Taylor, who only bowled six overs in the first innings because of a back niggle put that pain behind him to have Max Holden taken by Colin Ackermann at slip with just nine on the board.Sam Robson, who had come out on a king pair, played confidently for a while, but Taylor’s impressive spell accounted for him too, a little movement off the seam seeing the former England man edge to wicketkeeper Lewis Hill.Wright too was then in the action, grabbing the wicket of debutant Tom Lace before lunch, caught at slip.As in the first innings, Nick Gubbins played with increasing assurance, his cover drive, a thing of beauty, but he was undone during Wright’s impressive post-lunch burst, edging one which left him a fraction through to Hill. His departure was the first of three wickets for just three runs as Middlesex faltered.Skipper Stevie Eskinazi flashed at a loose one from Mohammad Abbas, though it needed a stunning one-handed catch at full stretch by Ackermann to send him on his way.It was 94 for 6 when Wright struck again, scattering George Scott’s stumps with a venomous Yorker.A brief lull in the procession ended when Taylor found the edge of James Harris’ bat to give Hill his sixth catch of the match. Ollie Rayner then prodded Ackermann into the hands of Hasan Azad at short-leg.At 114 for 8 Stuart Law’s men were on the ropes but, not for the first time in Middlesex colours, Simpson answered the call. His efforts relied on staunch support from Helm, who for the second time in the match produced shots belying his place at No. 10 in the order, one off-drive in particular a candidate for shot of the day on his way to 46.The pair added 85 for the ninth wicket before Helm fell lbw to Ben Mike, but last man Ethan Bamber stayed long enough to see Simpson to his long-awaited landmark and stretch the lead beyond 300.Hopes of a wicket before the close were thwarted however, with skipper Paul Horton in particular, on 28 not out, suggesting a successful final-day chase is more than possible.

Opening batsman faces scan on a left hamstring injury, while the captain has back spasms

George Dobell in Southampton14-Jun-2019Jason Roy and Eoin Morgan have emerged as serious doubts for England’s next World Cup fixture, against Afghanistan at Old Trafford on Tuesday, with the two men facing scans on their left hamstring and back respectively.Both injuries were sustained in the field during England’s otherwise comfortable eight-wicket win over West Indies in Southampton. Roy, the opener, would have been unable to bat until five wickets had fallen in the England innings, having gone off the field clutching his hamstring as early as in the eighth over.Morgan, who suffered back spasms, went off in the 40th over – the innings lasted 44.4 overs – and in accordance with the ICC’s regulations, wouldn’t have been able to bat for 28 minutes at the start of England’s chase.With a relatively short turnaround to England’s next match, Morgan said that he and Roy would be monitored for the next 48 hours, before a “risk assessment” to decide whether it is worth including them for a contest that England will be expecting to win, regardless of their injury concerns.”It is my back, it’s a little bit sore, and Roy tweaked his hammy as well,” said Morgan during the post-match presentations. “I have had a lot of back spasms as well in the past. It’s a matter of waiting 48 hours to let it settle down, sometimes it settles a lot quicker than expected and sometimes it lingers around, so we’ll just have to see how it goes.”WATCH on Hotstar (India only) – England’s bowling performanceAt the subsequent post-match press conference, Morgan chose to stand to address the media due to his discomfort, but insisted the fitness of both him and Roy was not “panic stations”.”We’ll do a risk assessment, see how risky it is going into that game, bearing in mind we have two games in quite a short space (of time).” England’s next match after Afghanistan is against Sri Lanka at Headingley on Friday.At this stage, the England management appear more concerned about the fitness of Roy, who pulled up sharply while chasing a ball in the covers and subsequently left the field with what the England management described as “tightness to his left hamstring”. He did not take any further part in the match and will undergo a scan on Saturday.”Again, it will be 24-48 hours,” said Morgan. “Everyone within our squad is so vital, so we obviously don’t want or need injuries throughout the tournament so hopefully they aren’t too serious.”The injury to Morgan looked worse at the time. He ran towards the stumps at the non-striker’s end as the batsmen, Nicholas Pooran and Carlos Brathwaite, took a quick run, but then doubled up in pain close to the stumps. He went off immediately, Jos Buttler taking over leadership duties, and the back spasm was confirmed a little while later.With England already going into the game one batsman short (Moeen Ali was omitted from the line-up) Joe Root stepped up to open the innings alongside Jonny Bairstow, and sealed the contest with an unbeaten century, while Chris Woakes was promoted to No.3 and contributed a fine 40 to a second-wicket stand of 104.”I think we had a really good day at the office today,” said Morgan. “The way the bowlers stuck to plans on that surface was outstanding, and we continued to create chances through the middle overs.”Joe [Root] has had an absolute day out. He’s the glue that keeps the team together. Our plans have remained the same throughout, even though the personnel have changed. The guys are executing the plans better, and you need players that can play a part through the tournament.”Importantly, keeping in mind the rest of the tournament, England are also without their first-choice reserve opener, Alex Hales, who was dropped from the squad after the furore following the news that he had failed a drugs test.Roy’s start to the season was delayed by a hamstring strain. It is currently unclear if the issues are related.