Ecclestone to take break to ‘prioritise wellbeing’

Sophie Ecclestone, the England spinner, will “prioritize her wellbeing” while managing a quad injury.

Under new coach Charlotte Edwards, Ecclestone, 26, was ruled out of England’s first squad because of her knee injury.

In February, she represented the UP Warriorz in India’s Women’s Premier League, but she missed Lancashire’s opening domestic competition by missing two months of play.

The left-arm spinner has since played six T20s and two one-day games for her country, but the quad issue prevented them from playing against Hampshire on Tuesday.

Ecclestone, who is the world’s number one-ranked ODI bowler, will still be available for England’s white-ball series against India, which kicks off on June 28 at Trent Bridge.

Sophie has been taking care of her quad niggle for the past week, but more importantly, she wants to take a break from cricket for a short while and look after herself, according to Edwards.

“We completely support that,” Sophie should be able to participate in the India series, but Sophie’s happiness is currently what matters most to her.

England argued that Ecclestone’s absence from the West Indies squad was not related to the controversy that had dominated an awful Ashes tour of Australia earlier this year.

Following her criticism of England’s fitness during the T20 World Cup in November, Ecclestone refused to participate in a TV interview conducted by former team-mate Alex Hartley during their 16-0 series defeat.

England have comfortably defeated West Indies, winning both the one-day international and the T20 series, but they will likely face a much tougher challenge from India, who will host the 50-over World Cup at the end of September.

During the final ODI against the West Indies in Taunton, Hartley remarked, “Mental health is so important.”