KEVIN PIETERSEN COULD MISS ASHES TESTS
England batsman faces spinal injection to be fit
KEVIN PIETERSEN admits he may NOT be fit to play in every Ashes Test this summer.
England's No 1 batsman may need ANOTHER inection into his spine to ease his worrying Achilles injury - and may need another.
And as he prepared for today's must-win Twenty20 World Cup clash with India at Lord's, he confessed: "I'm taking the best medical advice and I'm doing everything I can to face Australia but, occasionally, Achilles injuries do flare up.
"If that happens on the morning of a Test then I wouldn't be able to take part."
KP missed last week's shambolic Twenty20 defeat by Holland as he was unable to walk on the morning of the game. And he limped through Thursday's crushing loss to South Africa.
He said: "I can promise you I am doing everything in my power to make sure I am OK. I've got one more injection I can have before I'm not allowed any more. That would be a cortisone epidural into the spinal cord.
"The Achilles injury is a nerve problem related to the back but since I had the injection last Friday I have been fine. There is still pain in the heel but I'm doing the right thing to try to eliminate as much pain as I can.
"In order to fix an Achilles injury like this properly I probably do need two or three months out of the game.
"Unfortunately, that's not going to happen. I'm a man who wants to play every game for England and as much as I can. As long as I can walk I will play."
England's superstar batsman underwent a new procedure last Friday on the morning of the Holland debacle. He had what is known as a perineural injection into the nerve in his spine which was causing the pain in his heel.
The treatment was originally formulated to cure lameness in horses and KP is fuming at reports claiming he could have played against the Dutch.
He said: "I promise you right now I could not walk on Friday morning before we were due to play the Netherlands. If it had been the World Cup final, I would not have been able to play.
"I've heard a lot of people say we took the Netherlands lightly by resting me. But I don't know where those reports have come from.
"I wanted to play against the Netherlands and the only reason I didn't was because I could not walk on morning of the game That's the reason I went and had a big injection in my back."
News of the World doctor Hilary Jones explained: "Cortisone injections are a common way to treat sportsmen and keep them playing on through an injury.
Hate
"The injection into the nerve delivers a high dose of anti-inflammatory and also anaesthetizes the area and allows swelling to subside.
"An injection into the spine would most likely be in order to deliver the cortisone into the sciatic nerve at the base of the back or reduce inflammation in the nerve groupings that form in that area and run down the back of the leg into the heel, including the Achilles area.
"A perineural cortisone injection is delivered into the space inside the spinal canal and around the inflamed nerve."
The seven-wicket thumping by South Africa has left England needing to beat India today and the Windies tomorrow to reach the World Twenty 20 semi-finals.
Fantastic
Natal-born KP added: "I hate losing to South Africa. I hate losing to anybody but it's always a little bit more with South Africa.
"I really and truly don't like it. But unfortunately we were outplayed on Thursday night. When you are outplayed by there is not a lot you can do about it."
Defeat today at The Oval against the reigning champions would seal England's fate.
KP added: "It's a must-win game for us. It's there for us to win if we want it but India are a fantastic side. We just have to play fantastic cricket, like we did against Pakistan.
"Unfortunately, we are too inconsistent at the moment. Once we get that consistency right we are going to beat any team we play against."
This article has 2 comments
Why should England be able to play a South African star batsman in their team anyway? If we won with him in the side, it would be a hollow victory anyway.
By Keith Price. Posted June 14 2009 at 1:09 AM.
What a shocking blow to England if KP doesnt play in the Ashes. Our real chance of beating them is to bat them out of the matches and exploit the real weakness of the aussies which is spin bowling. They have no fit and decent spinner which is vital if the summer is warm and hot, and pitches turn. Swann and rashid would be brilliant if they played together. We already have a risky flintoff playing at present.
By GB. Posted June 13 2009 at 11:22 PM.