England injury list grows as Olly Stone is sidelined with back issue

Fast bowler Olly Stone has joined James Anderson and Mark Wood in the list of injured England fast bowlers after hurting his lower back during a training session on Tuesday.

The injury is a recurrence of the stress fracture in his lower back that ruled him out of England's Caribbean tour earlier this year.

Stone has been ruled out for at least two weeks - meaning he is likely to miss both the second and third Ashes Tests - and will undergo a scan on Wednesday afternoon to determine the exact severity of the injury.

"It's really disappointing for Olly that he's been ruled out of action for such an important two weeks of cricket because of a reoccurrence of his back injury," said Warwickshire's sport director Paul Farbrace.

"At the moment there's a bit of inflammation, but he will undergo a scan later this afternoon so that we know the full course of treatment that he can undertake with the club's medical team and with the support of the ECB.

"In the meantime, he needs to rest up before he can get his body strong again and ready to deal with the demands of being a fast bowler."

Stone's career has regularly been set back by injuries. In 2016, he suffered a freak knee injury while celebrating a wicket in the T20 Blast playing for Northamptonshire, which kept him out for over a year.

Last year, he broke into England's squads for the tour of Sri Lanka, and was picked for four ODIs, impressing with his pace despite only taking one wicket in his 16 overs.

But after being named in the Test squad to play the West Indies, he was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his lower back only days after arriving in Barbados.

Only weeks after making his comeback for Warwickshire in the County Championship, Stone took 3 for 29 on his Test debut against Ireland at Lord's, and according to coach Trevor Bayliss, was one of the bowlers in contention to come in for the injured Anderson in the second Ashes Test.

Stone's injury effectively leaves Jofra Archer and Sam Curran as the two candidates to replace Anderson at Lord's. Archer himself was sent away to "give him time to get absolutely ready and fit" as he continued his rehabilitation from a side strain suffered during the World Cup, but he proved his fitness by bowling 12.1 overs for Sussex's 2nd XI yesterday, taking 6 for 29 and adding a rapid century for good measure.

Another potential replacement, Lewis Gregory, who was named in the squad to play Ireland, is also out of contention after suffering a stress injury to a bone in his left foot.