Butcher ruled out of Worcestershire match

Mark Butcher has suffered another setback in his bid to prove his fitness ahead of the third Test against West Indies at Old Trafford next Thursday.

Butcher has still not fully recovered from a thigh injury he picked up playing in a Twenty20 game before the first Test in July, and has now been forced to miss Surrey's County Championship match against Worcestershire this week. According to Greg Mullings, the Surrey physio, Butcher "is working on strengthening his left quad and will have a fitness test prior to the Twenty20 Cup finals."

The Twenty20 finals and a one-day match are Surrey's only matches before the third Test begins on August 12, and even if Butcher plays in those, the selectors will still have doubts over his fitness for a five-day Test.

Butcher was passed fit to play in the first Test, but suffered whiplash in a car crash on the way to see the England physiotherapist for some treatment on his thigh only days before the start of the match, and aggravated the thigh problem lifting a box at his home last week.