Alice Capsey ‘weeks ahead of schedule’ in recovery from broken collarbone

Alice Capsey believes her recovery from surgery on a broken collarbone is “a couple of weeks” ahead of schedule, but she has yet to participate in full training ahead of next month’s Women’s T20 World Cup.

The 18-year-old all-rounder was included in England’s 15-strong squad for the tournament in South Africa after sustaining the injury while fielding during a match against the West Indies in December.

Capsey broke her collarbone diving for a ball in Antigua and faced a race against time to be fit for the global showpiece, with a bone held together with a metal plate and seven screws after the “freak” incident.

“I’ve watched the dive back a couple of times and it doesn’t even look like I landed that awkwardly so it was a bit of a surprise to everyone but I guess it was one of those freak accidents,” Capsey told the PA news agency.

“I landed on it a little bit wrong and ended up breaking it (the collarbone) into little pieces really.”

Capsey gained international recognition after bursting onto the scene while still at school during the inaugural The Hundred in 2021, and was called up to the England squad for the first time in July 2022 ahead of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

The collarbone issue was the first time the youngster has suffered a major injury through playing cricket, after an impressive breakthrough year which saw her shortlisted for the ICC Women’s Emerging Cricketer of the Year award.

“It (rehab) is going really well, I had a six-week scan on Tuesday which – it hasn’t given me the all-clear – but it’s shown the bone healing and everything which is a real positive, so we can start doing a little bit of diving soon,” Capsey said.

“But I’ve been batting and bowling for the last two weeks, so it’s going well.”

She added: “It will be (a case of getting the first dive out the way).

“It will be a nightmare getting me there, but I reckon once I get that first dive out the way I’ll be good to go and then hopefully the rest is history and I’m not going to break another bone diving, but you never know.

“When something like that happens, there’s a confidence blow there but I’ve got three weeks to progressively bring diving back into my practice.

“It’ll start off very controlled and comfortable and then hopefully by the time it gets to the first warm-up game I’ll be completely integrated back into team fielding and diving around and I’ll be good to go.”

England open the World Cup against the West Indies in Paarl on February 11 and have been drawn in a group that also includes India, Pakistan and Ireland.

Capsey is aiming to be fit for the match, and believes she has been playing well in the nets ahead of the World Cup.

“The only race against time is probably diving and then just having confidence in my game. Actual performance-wise I’m not too concerned,” she said.

“I’ve been hitting them pretty nicely over the last couple of weeks and I’ve been back bowling 12 and 15 overs a week so actually cricket-wise my recovery has gone better than anyone really expected.

“I’ve been a couple of weeks ahead of schedule from week one really, which has been really pleasing.”