World Cup 2019: Dale Steyn ruled out of tournament opener

What's the story?

South Africa and England are all set to kick off the ICC World 2019 on 30th May at The Oval. But while the English side will have the luxury of picking their best players, the South African side will miss their main strike bowler, Dale Steyn.

Steyn suffered a shoulder injury when he was playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2019. South Africa’s coach Ottis Gibson said that the 35-year-old will sit out of the opener to avoid the injury from worsening further.

The background

Steyn took part in IPL 2019 as Nathan Coulter-Nile’s replacement for RCB. However, the pace gun didn’t have luck in his favour as he injured his shoulder after playing only a couple of matches for his side.

He was subsequently ruled out from the tournament so that he could recover completely for the World Cup.

The heart of the matter

It has now been revealed that the pacer will take some more time to get 100% fit, and that he is set to miss the Proteas’ first match of CWC 2019 against England. South Africa's head coach Ottis Gibson informed the media about this development in a press conference.

"He’s not quite ready yet, not far away but not ready. We think with a six-week tournament there’s no real need to force the issue just now. He won’t be available for the first game. We’ve still got 14 others so we’ll choose from them," Gibson said.

Given that the conditions in England will favor the pacers, South Africa will miss Steyn a lot when they take field against the home side.

What's next?

Though Steyn will miss the opening encounter, South Africa have a strong squad which can give England a run for their money. They will, however, hope that the ace speedster recovers quickly enough so that he can be part of the remainder of the tournament.

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