England were handed a World Cup fitness boost after the ECB confirmed that the injury suffered by captain Eoin Morgan in training on Friday would not rule him out of their tournament opener.
Morgan sustained a small fracture to his left index finger and will miss Friday’s warm-up game against Australia at Hampshire’s Rose Bowl.
However, the skipper is expected to be available to lead the side in the World Cup curtain-raiser against South Africa at the Oval next Thursday.
The news will come as a huge relief to a side that go into the tournament as favourites to win a first ever World Cup.
The 32-year-old is England's all-time leading ODI run-scorer and showed that he is in good form by passing 70 twice in three innings in the recent 4-0 series win over Pakistan.
Should Morgan's recovery not go according to plan, Hampshire's James Vince looks likely to come into the line-up.
