Overton explains decision to play on

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England fast bowler Craig Overton has explained the decision for him to continue bowling during the Perth Test despite sustaining a cracked rib.

Overton said that he was determined to do his bit for the team even if he couldn’t give 100% because of the injury.

Many questioned whether the decision was brave or stupid given the risks of playing with a cracked rib especially when Overton got the dive out in the field.

Overton said: “We’re fighters down in Somerset, that’s how we play our cricket.

“It was painful, but not too bad. Even though I didn’t bowl that many overs, I could still bowl some that the other boys didn’t have to. That was the aim, just to get through this game really.

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“I’ve been brought up to fight through the pain, and I’m not the sort to leave the field for nothing. It would have taken a broken leg or something that prevented me standing to stop me batting to try to save the game. All you can do is dose yourself up and try to get through it.

“But then, just before lunch on the fourth day, I had to leave the field after one dive too many in the deep. The team doctor warned me it could become much worse if I landed the wrong way and I could even puncture a lung. That’s why I was making sure I didn’t dive too much because I was worried it could break properly.”

The seamer joked that his brother Jamie’s fast bowling batterings growing up prepared him to face almost anything.

He said: “Battling through the pain is in my nature. Growing up as a kid, with Jamie hitting me, it was always a case of ‘Get on with it’ really. You never want to show too much pain.”

Overton believes that he initially injured the rib while batting in Adelaide but then aggravated the knock while attempted to grab a caught and bowled chance from Usman Khawaja in Perth.

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He sais: “It’s a hairline fracture at the minute. I was hit in Adelaide, but it was fine and in the build-up to the game in Perth I was bowling fine in the nets with no painkillers.

“We weren’t worried about it.

“Then I went for that caught-and-bowled catch off Usman Khawaja and landed awkwardly on it and we think that’s when I cracked it. But it was only a bit later, when I came back on for a second spell and bowled a bouncer that it really hurt. It caused me massive pain.”

England have lost the Ashes after going 3-0 down following the innings defeat in Perth and will be looking to avoid a whitewash in Melbourne and Sydney.

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