England batsman Zak Crawley ruled out of first two Tests in India after 'freak' fall

England were dealt a selection blow on the eve of their series opener in India, with Zak Crawley ruled out of at least the first two Tests with a "freak" sprained wrist.

Crawley slipped over wearing his cricket spikes on a marble floor outside England's changing room at M.A.Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, where the four match series begins tomorrow. Steps have since been taken to cover the marble area and prevent further injuries on an area that other players nearly went over on. 

Crawley had a scan yesterday, and it is a source of some relief that his right wrist is not broken, and there is some confidence he can play a part in the latter half of the series. 

"It's really frustrating, particularly for Zak," said captain Joe Root. "It's a real freak injury, walking out the changing room and he just slipped over and landed on his wrist. Hard for him to take, especially on the back of trying to get prepared as well as possible for this series."

Root, who will play his 100th Test, remained tightlipped on his line-up, which is unlikely to be named until the toss. 

Having opened in Sri Lanka last month, Crawley was pencilled in to bat No3 tomorrow. With Jonny Bairstow at home, Dan Lawrence is set to move to first drop, behind Rory Burns and Dom Sibley, with the fit-again Ollie Pope back at No6.

Crawley's injury could leave England a little exposed if they suffer another injury in the batting department ahead of the Second Test, which begins a week on Saturday. Jos Buttler is flying home to rest, and will be replaced by Ben Foakes, leaving only the uncapped James Bracey or the option of promoting Moeen Ali into the top seven if one more player goes down. Bairstow will return for the last two matches. 

England face selection dilemmas in the bowling department, too. Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes are set to join Jimmy Anderson or Stuart Broad in the seam attack. Dom Bess today appeared to be winning his race with Moeen Ali - who has not played a Test since August 2019 - to partner Jack Leach bowling spin. 

"Everything is on the table in terms of selection," said Root. "We will weigh everything up when we get to the ground, look at the conditions and the surface again.

"There's a number of different things we've got. We've got some brilliant players, brilliant options to choose from. We'll look at the balance of the side as well."