12 Oct 2015 | Cricket
England fast bowler Steven Finn is out of the first Test against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi, which begins on Tuesday, after suffering from a stress injury to his left foot.
Finn first felt pain in his foot after bowling in England's second warm-up match against Pakistan A in Sharjah four days ago - but was able to take a full part in nets in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
England captain Alastair Cook said: It's a bitter blow for him. He bowled really well in that warm-up game, and over the last 12 months he's made huge strides back to where we'd like him to be.
We'll monitor him, and hope he could be right for the second Test. But we'll have to wait and see.
Cook also confirmed Finn was very much in contention to face Pakistan in the first match of the series, after impressing with figures of 4-16 against the second string.
However, there's better news with paceman James Andersonraring to return to competitive England action against Pakistan after injury ended his Ashes summer prematurely.
England's leading Test wicket-taker was ruled out of the final two Investec matches with Australia, at Trent Bridge and the Kia Oval, after sustaining a side strain in the victory at Edgbaston in late July.
The 33-year-old made his comeback with two outings for Lancashire in LV= County Championship Division Two, readying himself for this tour by claiming his career-best first-class Red Rose figures of 7-77 at the Essex County Ground.
And after featuring in the first of two warm-up matches versus Pakistan A in Sharjah, the Lancastrian insists he is fit an firing ahead of Tuesday's first Test in Abu Dhabi.
Anderson said: I'm itching to get going again, it was frustrating to miss the last couple of Tests of the summer but I've played a bit for Lancashire which was good, got some wickets, so felt in good form and since being out here all of us have acclimatised quite quickly and are raring to go.
Anderson is one of five survivors from the England team that lost 3-0 on their tour of the Middle East in 2012.
Having experienced the testing conditions first-hand on that trip, Anderson is fully aware of the challenge that faces England as they aim to inflict a first Test series defeat on Pakistan on these shores.
It's huge. We are aware of the challenge ahead, he said. We are aware of how we performed last time we were here.
We've turned things around a little bit, a change in personnel, and as we saw in the Ashes - we lost them in 2013 but then won them back - so it's all about how you prepare and play in that particular series. What happened in the past doesn't really matter that much.
We want to improve on the performances from the summer. We know we can play better than we did even though we won that series, we want to continue and improve and show people how exciting we can be.
Last time we were here we had a decent amount of success, myself and Stuart (Broad) and the two spinners, so we know how to get 20 wickets out here.
We know we'll have to bowl very well to do that. It's an exciting challenge; the conditions, the heat, if we do perform well it will be very satisfying. And it is very important we start well.