Toby Roland-Jones is highly likely to miss the Ashes
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
England pace bowler Toby Roland-Jones is unlikely to take part in the upcoming Ashes series in Australia as he has been diagnosed with a stress fracture in his lower back.
Roland-Jones sustained the injury while representing Middlesex in their County Championship victory over Lancashire at Lord’s this week.
Given the severity of his injury, Roland-Jones will miss the remainder of the domestic season, which includes Middlesex’s crucial relegation clash against Somerset next week.
Roland-Jones has impressed in his four Tests to date as he has taken 17 wickets, including a career-best 5/57 on debut against South Africa at The Oval in July.
With a bowling average of 19.64 after four Tests, Roland-Jones was set to be named in England’s Ashes squad next week, but instead, it is almost certain that he will miss out on the highly-anticipated series, which is scheduled to begin in November.
“Middlesex Cricket are extremely disappointed to announce that the result of the medical scan which Toby undertook yesterday has revealed that he has a stress fracture in his L5 vertebra [lower back], which will mean that he will take no further part in the domestic season for Middlesex,” the county side announced on their official website.
With Roland-Jones likely to need six to 12 weeks to recover and fellow seamer Mark Wood struggling with a heel injury, it could open the door for pace bowler Steven Finn to make his Test comeback and cement his place in the side.
Finn will no doubt be on the selectors’ radar after he took figures of 8/79 in Middlesex’s 36-run win over Lancashire.
When asked about his chances of being included in the Ashes squad, Finn said: “We’ll see what happens. I’m pretty content with where my game’s at. I felt really good. I felt that my pace was there for most of the game. It’s up to the selectors and whoever picks the team to see who goes Down Under. It’s a really exciting opportunity and really exciting prospect to potentially – hopefully – be in the mix.”
Finn also received support from Middlesex captain and former Australia batsman Adam Voges.
“If he bowls like that, he should [be in the Ashes squad],” Voges said. “One-hundred percent. He had rhythm, his pace was up and his areas were good.”