Broad misses pink-ball trial as heel injury clouds Lord's build-up

Stuart Broad remains hopeful of being fit for Nottinghamshire's Royal London Cup final against Surrey on July 1, as well as the first Test against South Africa five days later, despite being ruled out of his county's floodlit County Championship fixture against Kent, which gets underway on Monday.

Broad was forced off the field with a bruised left heel after bowling just one over in the second innings of the Nottinghamshire's three-day victory over Leicestershire on Wednesday, and is facing a race against time to be ready for the two showpiece occasions at Lord's.

"Stuart has been assessed by the medics over the last 24 hours," said Peter Moores, Nottinghamshire's head coach. "They have ruled him out of the Kent game for him to keep getting treatment, and then we'll wait to see how he responds to that treatment."

The floodlit round of matches represented an early opportunity for England's players to acquaint themselves with the pink ball, ahead of their maiden floodlit Test against West Indies at Edgbaston in August.

"I think he was really looking forward to playing in the Kent game," Moores said. "He knows it's a big game for us in the season and he's been very much a part of the team for much of the last three months.

"Stuart has been around the block enough to know that's the way it is. He's got some pain and he's got a lot of cricket coming up so it needs sorting out. It's already started to settle and we'll have to see how it goes over the next four or five days."

Broad has played five Specsavers Championship matches for Nottinghamshire this summer, taking 16 wickets at 20.87, to go with another ten in the Royal London Cup.

Moores added: "He's desperate to play in the final, as you'd expect, and it's been fantastic to have him with us with the commitment he has shown to the club.

"We're all hoping it's going to be OK. He will do everything he can to be, and now we just have to be patient and see how it turns out."