England will face Pakistan in the final match of the T20 World Cup on Sunday. Before the final clash, coach Matthew Mott said the team was “keeping an open mind” on the availability of Mark Wood and David Malan.
Both Wood and Malan suffered injuries during England’s final Super 12 game against Sri Lanka and were made into the playing XI by Chris Jordan and Phil Salt respectively for Thursday’s semi-final against India in Adelaide. In that match, Men in Blue were defeated by 10 wickets joss butler– Leading team.
“We’ll keep an open mind. It’s a small change again: with a travel day and then a training session almost straight into it,” Mott said.
“There’s not a lot of time for them. I want to maintain a little bit of hope for them but it’s disappointing. They’ve been two great players for us, in history, but especially in the last month.
“They are big players, but as we have shown, with the depth of the players and finding a way, and with the versatility within the group, we can manage around that,” Mott said.
Wood has taken nine wickets in four matches so far in the tournament. On the other hand, Malan suffered a groin injury in England’s four-wicket win over Sri Lanka last Saturday.
After arriving on Friday in Melbourne, the venue of the final, England will train once before the title match.
What is the whole squad?
Team Pakistan: Babar Azmi, Shadab KhanAsif Ali, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jr., Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Shan Masood, Fakhar ZamanMohamed Hariso
Team England: Jos Butler, Alex HalesDavid Malan, Ben Stokes, Harry Brooke, Liam Livingstone, Moeen AliSam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Chris Jordan, David Willey, Tymal Mills, Philip Salt