South Africa pacer ruled out of World Cup opener against England

South Africa coach Ottis Gibson on Tuesday, 28 May confirmed that Dale Steyn will not play in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 opener against the hosts, England at the Oval.

After his short but significant stint in this season of the Indian Premier League, Steyn aggravated his long-standing right shoulder injury.

“He’s not quite ready yet. He’s not far away … but not quite yet. We think with a six-week tournament, there is no real need to force the issue. We know that he is close and he’s getting closer every day. We’ll give him as much time as we can to get him ready, ” Gibson said.

Proteas coach Ottis Gibson addressing media at The Oval in London, confirming that @DaleSteyn62 is out of Thursday's CWC opener against England @Sport24news pic.twitter.com/LGOKwY7ofj

— Lloyd Burnard (@LloydBurnard) May 28, 2019

Likely to be available for India game

The pacer is not likely to be seen in South Africa’s second match against Bangladesh which is scheduled to take place on Sunday, 2 June.

However, in all likelihood, he will play the third world cup game against India at the Rose Bowl Cricket Ground on Wednesday, 5 June to mark his return.

Read: ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 SWOT Analysis of 10 teams

South Africa’s World Cup Squad

Faf du Plessis (c), Aiden Markram, Quinton de Kock (wk), Hashim Amla, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Chris Morris, Andile Phehlukwayo, JP Duminy, Dwaine Pretorius, Dale Steyn, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Imran Tahir, Tabraiz Shamsi

A light-hearted video on Team India’s XI for the opener