Zak Crawley ruled out of The Hundred 2024 with broken finger, Sri Lanka home series participation hangs in balance

Zak Crawley speaking. (Photo Source: Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

Zak Crawley has been ruled out of the ongoing edition of The Hundred after he broke his finger while fielding in the third Test against the West Indies last week in Birmingham.

The flamboyant England opener suffered the injury while he was fielding at slips in West Indies’ second innings. He was rushed to the hospital for an X-ray which revealed a fracture. The full extent of the injury is yet to be revealed but as per a report by The Telegraph, the medical team will confirm this week whether he will need to go under the knife.

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With Crawley being unable to bat, Ben Stokes opened the innings along with Ben Duckett and helped England chase down an 87-run target in just 7.2 overs with all 10 wickets intact. With this win, the Three Lions completed a 3-0 whitewash against the Caribbean side.

London Spirit, who have started their campaign in The Hundred 2024 with two consecutive losses, will miss the services of Crawley for the entirety of the tournament. They have roped in Keaton Jennings as his replacement. The southpaw is also in line to replace Crawley at the top of the order for the forthcoming home series against Sri Lanka.

However, England are also considering a move to bring in Dan Lawrence as Duckett’s partner at the top of the order. The right-handed batter has been with the England side in quite a few series in recent times but has not been able to add to his 11 Test appearances, the last of them coming in March 2022. Lawrence was on standby for the second Test at Trent Bridge when Duckett was expecting the birth of his second child.

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Crawley did not have a memorable time in the series against the West Indies as he managed to score just 97 runs from four innings. He started the campaign on a fine note as he slammed 76 off 89 balls in the first Test at Lord’s. However, he would be disappointed with how things transpired after that knock.