England’s Liam Plunkett back in training and Jason Roy making progress ahead of Sri Lanka clash

England reported positive updates on the fitness of seamer Liam Plunkett and opener Jason Roy ahead of Friday’s World Cup clash against Sri Lanka.

Plunkett, 34, did not play in the 150-run Cricket World Cup win over Afghanistan on Tuesday but returned to training after recovering from a virus.

Eoin Morgan, who suffered back spasms in the win over the West Indies last week, is fully fit following his record-breaking innings at Old Trafford, and Roy is closer to recovering from a hamstring injury but is not yet ready for selection.

Roy suffered a torn left hamstring while fielding against the West Indies and was replaced by James Vince for the game against Afghanistan and while England have not disclosed the severity of the problem, team-mate Moeen Ali says he is making good progress.

“He’s doing really well, I think,” confirmed Moeen. “I was speaking to him and he’s obviously desperate to get himself ready to play and hopefully we’ll see him very soon.

“The team is, as always, in great shape in terms of atmosphere and everyone’s looking forward to it. Even if we have some big injuries we’ve got players who are not playing who are also very good.

“The environment is amazing, like it always is, and we’re trying to be as professional as we can in our games and we’ve played really well so far.”

England have won four of their five World Cup matches so far and after taking on Sri Lanka face a showdown with Australia – a team they whitewashed 5-0 in 2018.

Aaron Finch’s side are firmly on target for a place in the semi-finals and Moeen says England are relishing the chance to take on Australia in a summer that also features the Ashes, live on Sky Sports Cricket from Thursday, August 1.

“Of course you want to win all the games but if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t. It’s obviously a big game but all of our games are big for us and we know that momentum is key.

“Both teams are playing well and I’m sure they’re very confident as well. It’s a big game no matter what the situation – World Cup or not.”

Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne admits that the quality of England’s batting against spin has given him pause for thought.

With Morgan in full flow on Tuesday, the hosts scored 110 runs off Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan – one of the leading spinners in limited-overs cricket.

“England is the best batting line-up against spin,” reflected Karunaratne. “If you take the Asian countries, England is playing better than them,” he said. “They’re a good side against spin at the moment.

“Are we playing two spinners or are we going with the extra batsman or fast bowlers? Those are the things we are discussing now. The only thing we know is they are a good side against the spinners so far.”

Karunaratne, who scored 97 against Australia, called on his own batsmen to start building partnerships and said his bowlers must be at their imaginative best to restrict England’s powerful line-up to a score of 300 or less.

“We have to do that. If we don’t have good pace, we have to think out of the box,” he said. “We have a couple of ideas we have to work those things in.”

Watch every match of the ICC Cricket World Cup live on Sky Sports Cricket World Cup, including England vs Sri Lanka from 10am on Friday.

(c) Sky News 2019: England’s Liam Plunkett back in training and Jason Roy making progress ahead of Sri Lanka clash