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More problems for Boon as he awaits news of Broad injury

Thursday, 10th May 2007

LEICESTERSHIRE must battle on without the services of three key bowlers for the next couple of weeks at least . . . after Senior Coach Tim Boon suffered more setbacks to his early season plans.

Boon is anxiously awaiting a specialist’s report on England seamer Stuart Broad’s latest knee injury, while another of his frontline bowlers David Masters has undergone a hernia operation.

Leicestershire are also without South African left arm spinner Claude Henderson for an indefinite period after he returned home last week to be with his mother due to her state of health.

Of immediate concern to Boon is the fitness of Broad, who has been hampered by a number of problems since he returned from World Cup duty with England in the Caribbean two weeks ago.

A shin injury forced the 20-year-old to miss the two Friends Provident Trophy matches over the Bank Holiday, but now he has been hit by a new knee problem which flared up after he underwent a fitness test ahead of the LV County Championship match at Derby.

Boon is resigned to the fact that Broad will be missing for another 10 days, but is waiting to discover if his absence will be even longer.

“This is a fresh injury which flared up earlier this week and we have sent him to see a specialist in London,” he said.

“At this stage, I anticipate that he will be out for another two games and we are just hoping that it is not even longer.”

Boon did, of course, expect Broad to be absent at times this summer, but that was due to the fact that he was very much in contention for an England place at either Test or One Day International levels.

Now though, the talented youngster must focus on getting fully fit and then pressing his claims with Leicestershire.

In the case of Masters, he is expected to be back in a fortnight after he damaged a groin muscle at Bristol last week which has since led to him undergoing an operation to repair hernia trouble.

And Boon has revealed that Henderson will only return to Grace Road later this month once he is in the right frame of mind after coming to terms with the fact that his mother is terminally ill.