South Africa were dealt another injury blow in the 2019 ICC World Cup with pacer Lungi Ngidi damaging his hamstring in Sunday’s clash against Bangladesh at the Oval, London.
Ngidi had to go off the field after bowling just four overs of his quota against Bangladesh and did not return for the remainder of the innings. The pacer is being assessed for a tight left hamstring and could now be a serious doubt for South Africa’s next clash which is slated to take place against India on June 5.
With Ngidi not coming back to finish his quota of overs, the Proteas had to rely on the part-time off-spin of Aiden Markram to make up the numbers.
Lungi Ngidi will not bowl for the rest of the innings having left the field earlier due to a hamstring issue.#SAvBAN LIVE 👇https://t.co/6wY1jYPAUQ pic.twitter.com/FjUk7gnHTG
— Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) June 2, 2019
The 23-year-old pacer had only recently to full fitness from a long-term injury layoff. Ngidi had sustained a side strain at the start of the year in South Africa’s ODI series against Sri Lanka and had subsequently missed the entire IPL 2019 campaign.
The South Africans had earlier been dealt a big blow in the pace department before the World Cup even began with Dale Steyn being ruled out of the early stages. The veteran pacer had injured his shoulder in the recent IPL campaign and had failed to recover in time for the World Cup opener against hosts England.
Steyn did not feature in Sunday’s clash against Bangladesh either but the right-armed pacer is expected to be fit in time for the match against India. Veteran opener Hashim Amla is also currently recovering from an injury blow after being struck by a vicious Jofra Archer bouncer in the game against England.
