Hamstring injury rules Dillon Pennington out of The Hundred, Sri Lanka Tests

Dillon Pennington was expected to get some game time in the three-match Test series against West Indies, especially after the retirement of James Anderson but that didn’t happen. The team management backed the formidable trio of Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson and Mark Wood in the last two matches of the series and they repaid the faith by helping England seal the series 3-0. 

After the series, captain Ben Stokes stated that they were happy with Pennington’s progress and mentioned that he would be ‘ready to go’ against Sri Lanka. However, a hamstring injury has spoiled the plan as the 25-year-old is now out of the three-match series starting August 21.

Pennington was sensational in the County Championship as he bagged 31 wickets, which helped him get into the Test side. After warming the bench for almost a month in the West Indies series, he returned to competitive cricket in the ongoing Hundred. In Northern Superchargers’ match against Oval Invincibles, the pacer bowled five deliveries at The Oval and couldn’t continue again. 

Also Read: 'Exciting prospect but there has been no formal approach' - Kumar Sangakkara on taking England's white-ball coaching role

As per ESPNcricinfo, he withdrew from the competition on Sunday, August 4, which raised questions about his fitness for the Sri Lanka series right away. Meanwhile, Derbyshire pacer Pat Brown has been called up by Superchargers for the rest of the tournament.

Apart from Pennington, Zak Crawley has also been ruled out of the Test series. The England opener broke his finger in the third Test against West Indies, which resulted in him being ruled out of the match. Stokes opened alongside Ben Duckett in the second innings as the captain smashed 57* runs off 28 deliveries to help the hosts pick up a 10-wicket victory.

Dan Lawrence is in line to open the batting now after the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) named the batter in the squad for the series.