WELLINGTON: Injuries in the squad prevented England from training ahead of the last two One-day Internationals against India, coach Brendon McCullum said following criticism of their preparation for the series which they lost 3-0.

Bowler Jofra Archer suffered a cut to his hand and bowling all-rounders Brydon Carse and Jamie Overton were sidelined with hamstring and calf injuries, respectively, affecting England’s preparations for this month’s ICC Champions Trophy.

McCullum said the team did not train in order to stay fresh ahead of the Champions Trophy beginning next week in Pakistan.

“Guys have come from a lot of cricket and keeping guys fresh is just as important, especially when you have injuries,” the former New Zealand captain told reporters.

“We’ve done lots of training. We have had injuries in the camp so we’ve backed guys off a little bit to make sure we had a fit team.” Former England captain Kevin Pietersen criticised the visitors for not training enough after losing the preceding T20 series 4-1 and making a losing start in the ODIs.

“Injuries are part of sport and this schedule is like every bilateral series almost ever played,” Pietersen wrote on X on Thursday.

“Injuries are not stopping batters from batting against net bowlers and learning the art of playing spin. And thats where they should have been to improve. Trust me on this one as it saved my career against spin.”

McCullum said England will have three training sessions in Pakistan before they kick off their Champions Trophy campaign against Australia on Feb 22.

“Hopefully in Pakistan we will have a fully fit squad to pick from and we look forward to a fresh challenge. It’s been a tough lesson but hopefully it’s been great preparation for the tournament,” he added.

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2025