Briefly Cricket

England received an injury blow ahead of next months tour of India after middle-order batsman Eoin Morgan was ruled out of the series on Friday because of a chronic shoulder injury.

Morgan out of India ODI tour

England received an injury blow ahead of next months tour of India after middle-order batsman Eoin Morgan was ruled out of the series on Friday because of a chronic shoulder injury. Morgan will undergo surgery on his right shoulder next week that will keep him out of action for 12 weeks,which means he is also unavailable for the remainder of the ongoing ODI series against India at home.

After seeing a specialist today it has been confirmed that Eoin Morgan will require surgery to his right shoulder with the likelihood of repairing a chronic SLAP lesion, England and Wales Cricket Board ECB chief medical officer,Dr Nick Peirce said in a statement.

We have managed the injury to date with a conservative program but Eoin has now reached the stage where surgery is most appropriate progression of his treatment. Following the operation Eoin will undertake a rehabilitation programme ruling him out of all cricket for approximately 12 weeks. The recovery period is anticipated to see him return to full fitness ahead of Englands tour of the UAE commencing in January, he added.

Morgan,who first suffered the injury during Englands Ashes tour of Australia earlier this year,flared it up after the one-off Twenty20 International against India at Old Trafford earlier this month.

Have to beat India in India

Beating India in the current series will not be enough and England will have to upstage Mahendra Singh Dhonis men in their own backyard as well to reach the number one spot in ODIs,says spinner Graeme Swann.

Our official ranking is five and I dont think we can argue with that, the English off-spinner told Sky Sports News.

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We have shown some improvement recently but we have to continue that if we want to be one of the best teams. We have to beat teams like India,not just in this series,but when we go away to play them as well, he said. Swann,meanwhile,was all praise for his skipper Alastair Cook,who scored a match-winning 80-run knock in the second ODI.

Hes just letting his bat do the talking. It is very good for Cooky. He works very hard on his game,no-one works harder on his game although Kevin Pietersen might tell you differently, he said.

It is brilliant that it is paying off for him. He was written off 8211; hes even hitting sixes these days. So you never know,hell might freeze over.