England seamer Reece Topley has broken his right hand on his Hampshire debut.
Topley, who left Essex to join his new county for this season, is yet to discover the full extent of the injury he suffered on day one of the Specsavers County Championship season when he was hit by a bouncer from Warwickshire’s Boyd Rankin.
But the 22-year-old, a member England’s squad of ICC World Twenty20 finalists over the past month in India, knows already he has a “fracture in a few places beneath the knuckle”.
The tail-ender batted on at the Ageas Bowl, despite his injury, contributing his first-class career-best score of 15 as Hampshire struggled for runs.
.@reece_topley is to see a specialist today after injuring his right hand whilst batting at @TheAgeasBowl yesterday. pic.twitter.com/Lwai3W1sv9
— Hampshire Cricket (@hantscricket) April 11, 2016
England do not have a white-ball fixture until the start of the Royal London One-Day Series against Sri Lanka in late June, and left-armer Topley’s injury is not to his bowling hand.
He told Sky Sports News: “I was hit on the back of my hand, and (had to) rush off for an x-ray. Unfortunately there was a fracture there – at least one, maybe a few more.
“It was a knock back early in my innings. I thought I played the shot quite well, and I kept going with a bit of discomfort.”
Topley, however, still appears optimistic.
“The worse-case scenario will see me have to have a wire put in my hand,” he said. “The best case scenario will be to leave it and let it heal.”
Source: ECB