Worcestershire: Injured Josh Baker & Charlie Morris to miss the rest of the season
- Published
Josh Baker has taken 35 wickets in 15 first-class matches for Worcestershire
Worcestershire bowlers Josh Baker and Charlie Morris will both miss the rest of the season because of injury.
Slow left-arm spinner Baker, 19, has suffered a "stress reaction", external to the lower back problem that has kept him out since the start of August.
Experienced seamer Morris, 30, has not played for a month due to a knee problem that now requires surgery.
Kashif Ali is out for up to six weeks with a broken thumb but wicketkeeper Ben Cox is at least now fit again.
Kashif, whose impressive form during the T20 Blast earned him a two-year contract, hit 114 on his List A debut against Kent, but he hurt his thumb fielding in Wednesday's fourth successive One-Day Cup loss to Lancashire.
Cox missed the Pears' four County Championship games in June and July, after playing in Worcestershire's first eight T20 Blast matches, but he has returned to action in the One-Day Cup.
The loss of Baker and Morris, who are both contracted until the end of next summer, leaves the Pears' thinning bowling options further depleted.
Charlie Morris has spent 10 years with Worcestershire, taking 313 wickets in 139 games across all formats
With no frontline slow bowler, as skipper Brett D'Oliveira has been called up to join the Birmingham Phoenix squad for the Hundred, they will now rely on the part-time spin of Jake Libby, Taylor Cornall and Azhar Ali, while academy prospect and Scotland Under-19 spinner Olly Davidson has been signed a one-month rookie contract.
With Warwickshire-bound all-rounder Ed Barnard only able to bat because of a finger injury, and left-arm seamer Ben Gibbon struggling with a knee problem, Worcestershire went into this week's match at Old Trafford with only three senior bowlers - and handed a debut to rookie all-rounder Reeve Evitts.
In a boost to the bowling stocks at New Road, paceman Josh Tongue is "progressing well" in his comeback from a shoulder injury.
The injury-hit 24-year-old is expected to continue building his fitness playing for his club in the Birmingham Premier League, after more than a year out of action.