Cricket: Swann’s Ashes hopes revived

Officials hopes Swann will be fit for this year’s Ashes double-header.

WELLINGTON: England off-spinner Graeme Swann faces up to two months’ rehabilitation after surgery on his injured elbow, officials said yesterday, raising hopes he will be fit for this year’s Ashes double-header. Swann was forced out of England’s current tour of New Zealand earlier this month after a longstanding problem with his right elbow flared, requiring surgery in the United States. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said Swann had undergone ‘an uncomplicated operation’ on the elbow, which had a build-up of excess bone after an operation four years ago. “Swann will now commence a six-to-eight week rehabilitation and back-to-bowling programme before returning to competitive cricket early in the summer,” read ECB’s statement.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2013.