Brendon McCullum allayed concerns over a full-blown injury crisis for England as they travelled to Abu Dhabi on Thursday to lick their wounds from a bleak white-ball tour of India.
England’s 142-run thrashing in Ahmedabad was their seventh defeat in eight contests as they were clean swept 3-0 in the ODIs, which was compounded by Ben Duckett suffering a problem in his left groin.
Duckett is set for a scan in the United Arab Emirates and his participation for the Champions Trophy is in serious doubt, with England starting their campaign against Australia in Lahore on Saturday week.
“He’s had quite a lot of cricket over the last little while,” England head coach McCullum said. “We will make that call, work out if he’s going to be at risk, if he’s in or out.”
England have already been forced into one change of their 15-man squad with Tom Banton replacing Jacob Bethell but McCullum had better news on Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse, Jamie Overton and Jamie Smith.
Archer’s cut on his bowling hand and toe and hamstring niggles to fellow pacemen Carse and Overton respectively meant they missed out at the Narendra Modi Stadium, while wicketkeeper-batter Smith has been absent since midway through the T20 series owing to calf trouble.
“Jamie would have been a risk (on Wednesday) but he will be available for the first game,” McCullum said. “With Brydon, hopefully his toe has healed by then and he is available for the first game.
“Jamie Overton feels OK, he felt a little bit of tightness after the last game but he should be fine for the first one. Jofra should be available. That’s good news.”
McCullum, who revealed there is “no one specific on standby”, explained England’s mounting injuries were a major factor in them tapering off their training sessions as the India tour progressed.
While they practised half-a-dozen times during a trip complicated by an extensive travel programme, they did not do so before the second and third ODIs, leading to criticism of their preparation by former India player and coach Ravi Shastri and ex-England captain Kevin Pietersen.
“We’ve done lots of training,” McCullum said. “We have had injuries in the camp so we’ve backed guys off a little bit to make sure we had a fit team.
“We have three training sessions in Pakistan (before the Champions Trophy starts). Guys have come from a lot of cricket and keeping guys fresh is just as important, especially when you have injuries.
“Hopefully in Pakistan we will have a fully fit squad to pick from and we look forward to a fresh challenge. It’s been a tough lesson but hopefully it’s been great preparation for the tournament.”
A common theme of the India trip has been England’s struggles against spin, with Varun Chakravarthy the star of the T20 series while Ravindra Jadeja stood out in the first two ODIs. When he was rested for the dead-rubber, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav proved threatening and difficult to get away.
McCullum hopes a change of scenery when they head to Pakistan next week might lift his ailing batters before insisting he is confident they can turn round their fortunes at the Champions Trophy.
“If we go the other way, you’ve got no chance,” McCullum said. “So there’s no alternative – you’ve got to make sure you maintain that belief in your side and I certainly have belief in us.
“I believe we’ve got a squad which, if we’re able to put it all together, is as good or as competitive as anyone else, particularly in the conditions that we’ll face in Pakistan.
“We hope maybe a fresh look on different surfaces in a different environment might might provide some more answers for us. But I still believe our guys are good players of spin.”
