West Indies tour diary: England set to be without Mark Wood for Third Test in Grenada

England are resigned to losing Mark Wood for the Third Test against West Indies in Grenada. The quick bowler injured his elbow in the First Test in Antigua, and England are awaiting the results of his second scan since arriving in Barbados. The first clearly did not tell them enough.

It had been hoped that Wood could play in Grenada but that now seems a long shot. His next cricket will be in the IPL, where he has a deal worth nearly £750,000 with Lucknow Super Giants. If he is injured, it is normal for players to have insurance.

Wood has his wife and son on tour and was running drinks with his usual smiley disposition on day one and is said to not be too concerned by the injury. More will be known in the coming days.

Overton and out

It came as a bit of a shock that Craig Overton was withdrawn from England’s side on the morning of the game, but the team – and Matthew Fisher, his replacement – were ready for it. Overton reported feeling faint after bowling in training on Tuesday.

“He was feeling a bit fatigued in the last couple of days, we were monitoring him yesterday, saw how he was today and he’s just not quite up to scratch,” said England batting coach Marcus Trescothick, who is confident Fisher is up to the task of playing Test cricket.

Sobers and Gayle

While most of the fans at Kensington Oval on day one were English, there was Caribbean cricket royalty in attendance. The Windies’ greatest Test player, Garfield Sobers, was there, as was Chris Gayle, their greatest T20 player (only one of them has hit six sixes in an over, mind). Needless to say Sobers, 86 this year, wasn’t dancing with scantily clad women on a stage in the party stand…

Keep on keeping on

A funny hum through the stump mic as England racked up the