STUART Broad and Matt Prior are doubtful for today’s ICC Champions Trophy semifinal against Australia.

England will decide upon their participation for the 15th meeting scheduled between the sides inside three months this morning.

All-rounder Broad underwent a scan before practice yesterday which revealed a minor tear in his left buttock and, although he later bowled at full capacity in the nets, he is restricted in certain movements and continues to experience discomfort.

Wicketkeeper Prior, meanwhile, is still not fully recovered from a virus despite returning to training, so Steven Davies has been placed on standby with ICCapproval.

‘‘Stuart Broad is struggling a bit but we haven’t ruled him out yet,’’ said England coach Andy Flower. ‘‘He bowled at full pace in the nets and he was okay bowling, and then we gave him a test running between the wickets and fielding, but he’s not at 100 per cent.’’ One option is for Broad to have a painkilling injection to feature in the day-nighter but Flower appeared reluctant to go down that route.

‘‘We’d take medical advice on him having a jab because we don’t want to damage him further,’’ said Flower.

Broad is full of niggles following a full international summer and was recently rested for the end of the 6-1 NatWest Series thrashing because of a knee problem.

Because the tear in the muscle is relatively small, further rest could potentially allow him to play in the final, should England qualify.

‘‘I don’t think we can definitively say that it would be right by Monday but it would be better if we rested him,’’ Flower said.

‘‘It would be a blow to lose him because he is starting to hit his straps as a bowler.

‘‘He came in and wasn’t at his best at the start of the tournament, but watching him bowl in the last game it looks like he’s hitting them again.’’ Yorkshire’s Tim Bresnan is the obvious like-for-like replacement in the 15-man squad.

It was thought the scan was more a precautionary measure than a necessity but there was clearly something wrong during his subsequent fitness test.

Prior rejoined his colleagues yesterday morning in the nets after missing the last two matches.

But Flower warned: ‘‘Prior is still struggling a bit actually.

He’s had this virus which has actually knocked him quite hard. He practised with us today for the first time but struggled through it.

‘‘We’re not sure whether he is fit enough to take part in a 100-over game and we’d consider replacing him with Steve. We stuck with Eoin Morgan for the New Zealand game because it wasn’t a must-win game, but the keeping side of things and taking sharp chances is important.

‘‘We’ve checked with the ICC and they are okay with us making that decision in the morning and getting their permission to change him.’’ England were crushed 6-1 by Australia in their NatWest Series campaign last month but had confidence repaired firstly by avoiding a whitewash in the final match at Chester-le-Street and then by defeating Group B favourites Sri Lanka and South Africa upon arrival here.

‘‘Obviously we know a lot about Australia because we’ve been playing them all summer and everyone is looking forward to that challenge,’’ said Flower.

‘‘Certainly that last win was a good one to get in the context of that one-day series and we know we can beat them.

The guys are fired up for it.

‘‘We talked about drawing a line under the English summer and starting afresh for the winter when we got here and I think that is what we’ve done.

‘‘It has been evident from some of the performances and we’ve made some slight adjustments in the way we want to approach one-day cricket.

‘‘We’d like to see some of those things happen again against Australia.’’

Teams

England (from): AJ Strauss (captain), JL Denly, RS Bopara, MJ Prior (wkt), PD Collingwood, EJG Morgan, OA Shah, LJ Wright, SCJ Broad, AU Rashid, TT Bresnan, GP Swann, RJ Sidebottom, JM Anderson, G Onions. On standby: SM Davies (wkt) Australia (from): RT Ponting (captain), SR Watson, TD Paine (wkt), MEK Hussey, CJ Ferguson, CL White, JR Hopes, MG Johnson, B Lee, NM Hauritz, PM Siddle, AC Voges, DE Bollinger, BW Hilfenhaus. Umpires: BF Bowden (Nzl) & Aleem Dar (Pak) TV umpire: AL Hill (Nzl) Match referee: JJ Crowe (Nzl)