Graeme Swann fit despite friendly fire
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Your support makes all the difference.Relieved England were able to report no harm done this morning, after Graeme Swann became the latest victim of friendly fire.
Swann was struck a painful blow on the thumb of his bowling hand by a delivery from Tim Bresnan, in the first nets session of England's Ashes tour.
Their key off-spinner needed ice treatment and some strapping but appeared to have avoided serious injury and was not in obvious pain for long, typically soon sharing a joke with his fellow Ashes hopefuls.
Swann's moment of concern follows the rib injuries suffered by pace bowlers James Anderson and Chris Tremlett in a training boxing bout during England's pre-tour bonding camp five weeks ago.
Neither of the seamers seemed troubled by those blows as both bowled in the WACA nets this morning, although it remains to be seen whether Anderson will be deemed sufficiently recovered to take part in England's first warm-up match against Western Australia on Friday.
As for Swann, team-mate Stuart Broad was able to confirm there is nothing to worry about.
"He's fine. It's just a bit of precautionary strapping," he said.
"I don't think he's in any trouble at all. He just got a bit of a blow, which you're used to in nets."
Most of the England team went through a tough physical workout away from the nets too, but Swann was excused.
"I think he's pleased his thumb got him out of the running," added Broad.
A small deputation from the England team watched Australia brushed aside by seven wickets in last night's Twenty20 international against Sri Lanka at the WACA.
But Broad insists that result can have no significant bearing on the forthcoming five-match Test series.
"It's a completely different format of the game, and I think there are only two or three players who were involved last night and look in the frame for the first Ashes Test match.
"So there's certainly nothing we can take from last night as an England team."
There was also unsurprising news yesterday from Doha, which indirectly concerns England.
The International Cricket Council suspensions imposed on Pakistanis Salman Butt and Mohammad Aamer, over the spot-fixing crisis in last summer's Lord's Test, remain in place after an initial appeal process.
Broad said: "We've had a lot of talk about that over the summer.
"The controversies obviously scarred our summer of cricket.
"It's up to the ICC to be strong and look after that from here."
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