Ahmedabad: England on Wednesday suffered a blow with paceman Steve Finn being ruled out of the first Test against India starting here from Thursday after failing to recover from his right thigh strain.
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Finn did not attend yesterday`s training session at Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera and England captain Alastair Cook confirmed that he won`t be a part of the playing eleven.
"Steve won`t be available for tomorrow`s Test match. He has made some fantastic progress with the injury, has come home better than we thought, but unfortunately he won`t be able to make it because it is too big a risk to go into a game (with an injury) in any Test match, especially in these conditions," Cook said at a pre-match press conference.
"(Tim) Bresnan, (Stuart) Meaker...I won`t call them back-up bowlers. They`re all vying for a place in the 11. They bowled well in practice games, used their skills to get used to the conditions. It`s a tough call for us now (for whom to pick)," he added.
The 6ft 7inch fast bowler had suffered the injury during the English side`s first warm-up game of the tour against India `A`.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, November 14, 2012, 17:06