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Sidebottom out of India opener

12/11/2008

England seamer Ryan Sidebottom has been ruled out of the opening one-day international against India on Friday due to an ongoing ankle injury.

The Nottinghamshire seamer has been undergoing a staged rehabilitation programme in a bid to recover his fitness ahead of the seven-match series on the subcontinent.

However, the discomfort in Sidebottom's Achilles has been slow to abate and he will miss out on the opening match in Rajkot.

The paceman's absence leaves the selectors sweating over his club-mate and fellow strike bowler Stuart Broad, who is due to have a fitness test on Thursday.

Broad, the world's fifth best bowler in one-dayers according to the current ICC rankings, missed the final warm-up match on Tuesday because of a sore knee, although head coach Peter Moores believes he should be declared fit for Friday.

"If there's no reaction, Stuart should be fit and available for selection," Moores told the BBC.

"We've got a versatile squad with a lot of all-rounders, so we've got quite a lot of depth in bowling that we can call on, but we're very keen for Stuart to get fit."

On Sidebottom, Moores added: "Ryan's a chance for the second ODI but we are conscious of not releasing him into competitive cricket too early."