England opener Joe Denly could miss Friday's opening one-day international against Australia after suffering a left knee injury playing football.The 23-year-old got his studs caught in the turf and his knee buckled when he collided with Owais Shah during a training session at The Oval.
The clash left Denly injured on the ground for 15 minutes before he was helped off by physio Kirk Russell.
The right-hander will have a scan to determine the extent of the injury.
England's head of security Reg Dickason also assisted the Kent player.
Team spokesman James Avery told BBC Sport: "He is being assessed by the physio and until that happens we won't know any more about Joe's condition.
"We're waiting for medical staff to have a close look at him."
England's tradition of playing football before matches has been criticised in the past. Matt Prior suffered a back spasm while playing football during England's warm-up for the fourth Ashes Test at Headingley.
James Anderson twisted his ankle during an end-of-day warm-down at Wellington in March 2008 and Ian Bell turned his right ankle in the indoor nets ahead of this summer's third Test at Edgbaston.
However, England's Twenty20 captain Paul Collingwood was not prepared to let his bowlers run over a damp patch of ground in the controversially abandoned international at Old Trafford on Tuesday.
Ashes hero Andrew Strauss takes the captaincy reins again on Friday, and he said the team management would now consider banning football as part of their warm-up.
Strauss said: "The reason we play football is that it's something the guys enjoy and it gets the blood flowing.
"We feel, or certainly had felt, if it's played sensibly the chance of getting injured is very slight. Unfortunately it has happened today and if people are going to get injured playing it, we've got to look at it.
"Up to this stage we have never had anyone missing cricket through playing it. You'd like to think players would be sensible enough in the warm-up not to take it too far.
"When we do play football we have a no tackling rule. Any injury is not ideal, you want a full squad to choose from."
Denly made his England debut and top-scored with 67 against Ireland in Belfast in August before being dismissed for a first-ball duck in the abandoned first Twenty20 international against Australia at Old Trafford.
England seem likely to call Jonathan Trott, the batting hero of the Ashes decider, into the 14-man squad assuming Denly's injury is a serious one.
Strauss and out-of-form Essex batsman Ravi Bopara are likely to resume the opening partnership they established during England's 2-0 series win over West Indies earlier in the summer.
Meanwhile, a decent forecast for Friday's match will be a relief following the dreadful weather in Manchester - though an under-prepared wicket remains a possible factor for the floodlit contest.
Michael Clarke will lead Australia while Ricky Ponting rests up for the opening three contests in the seven-match rubber.
Australia's left-arm seamer Nathan Bracken, a one-day specialist, said: "The last ODI series here was a draw and the last time England was in Australia England won.
"Realistically we haven't beaten England in a one-day series either here or in Australia for the last two times so we are trying to get revenge for those two."
"We haven't been consistent enough in our one-day form, there has been glimmers of what we can do. We have put on good performances in Dubai [against the West Indies] and we played well at the end of the South Africa tour.
"But the consistency that we have prided ourselves on for as long as we can remember is probably not as good as we have expected it to be."
England squad: Andrew Strauss (captain), James Anderson, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Joe Denly, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior, Adil Rashid, Owais Shah, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann, Luke Wright.
Australia (from): Michael Clarke (captain), Nathan Bracken, Callum Ferguson, Nathan Hauritz, Ben Hilfenhaus, James Hopes, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Graham Manou, Tim Paine, Peter Siddle, Adam Voges, Shane Watson, Cameron White.
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