England will give injured pace bowler Steve Finn a couple more days before making a decision on whether to keep him in the Ashes touring squad, coach Trevor Bayliss said on Tuesday.
The 28-year-old quick, a 2010-11 and 2013-14 Ashes tourist, missed the opening tour match in Perth because of a knee injury and will also play no part in this week’s day-night match against a Cricket Australia XI at the Adelaide Oval.
All-rounder Moeen Ali, who has a side strain, will also miss both matches but Bayliss said he was on track to be available for a return to action in the tour match in Towsnville starting November 15.
“Finn is still not right, we won’t know about him for another couple of days yet,” Bayliss told reporters in Adelaide on Tuesday.
“Mo Ali … more precautionary now, we will just leave him out of this one and make sure he’s right.”
Finn came into the squad as a replacement for Ben Stokes after the all-rounder was suspended following his arrest on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm outside a nightclub.
Bayliss also responded to reports in the Australian media on Tuesday that said Stokes would soon face a England and Wales Cricket Board disciplinary hearing and could join the squad in time for the third test.
“I haven’t spoken (to anyone) or heard of anything since we have been here,” said Bayliss.
“If we concentrate on that, and wondering if he is coming or not, that might take the focus off what we’re trying to achieve so we have just been going about preparing with the players we have got here.
“If he happens to turn up at some stage, it’s a bonus. If he doesn’t, bad luck, we will just get on with what we have got.”
ECB director of cricket Andrew Strauss said England were looking for “clarity” over Stokes’s position. England begin their campaign to retain the Ashes at the Gabba in Brisbane on November 23.