Cricket World Cup: Injured Morgan replaced by Bopara

England have called Ravi Bopara into their World Cup squad after Eoin Morgan was ruled out with a broken finger.

Morgan missed the seventh and final one-day international against Australia with the injury he first noticed during the fourth game in Adelaide.

England coach Andy Flower said: "Eoin needs to be operated on. It's a serious loss but Ravi Bopara will join us."

Morgan's injury is the latest in a series of problems that have affected England's limited-overs squad.

The bowling division has been worst hit with Graeme Swann(knee/back), Tim Bresnan (calf), Ajmal Shahzad (hamstring), Chris Tremlett (side strain) and all-rounder Paul Collingwood (back) all having flown home early from the Australia tour.

Paceman Stuart Broad was also been sidelined for the entire series due to the stomach injury he suffered during the Ashes series.

Apart from Bresman, all of those names are, however, expected to be fit for the tournament, which starts on 19 February and will be jointly hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

England will open their World Cup campaign against Holland on 22 February without Morgan, who did not feel that the injury to his middle finger on his left hand was anything to worry about at first.

"He injured it in that Adelaide game and didn't think it was serious but it got worse the more he played and practised," added Flower.

"The pain grew worse and therefore the medical team got onto it."

The left-hander is generally regarded as one England's better limited-overs batsmen, however, he did not have the best one-day series in Australia, scoring only 106 runs in six innings, with a top score of 30 as England slumped to a 6-1 defeat.

The 24-year-old has played 61 ODIs, scoring 1,904 runs at an average of 38.08, and at an impressive strike-rate of 81.19, including four centuries.

But Flower insists England's World Cup chances have not been diminished by his withdrawal.

"No-one is irreplaceable," said the 42-year-old. "Ravi Bopara is a very talented and exciting player.

"He will also bring a bit of medium-pace bowling to help out the captain. We're confident the 15 players we've got out there will gel."

Bopara has been in the West Indies with the England Lions but will fly home to join the squad before they travel to sub-continent on 12 February.

The Essex all-rounder has made 54 ODI appearances for England, scoring 1,140 runs at 28.50 with a strike-rate of 73.45, although his top score is 60. With the ball, he has taken 10 wickets at a little over 33 apiece.

"He is going to be a worthy addition to our squad," said England captain Andrew Strauss.

"He hasn't had a chance to play for us recently and we like what he can bring to the game. His bowling and his batting, his ability to clear the ropes in the middle overs."

Strauss went on to admit that the injuries suffered by England had not helped during the one-day series against Australia.

"Having a settled bowling unit has been the basis of our ODI success over the last 18 months and we certainly missed having that in Australia," he stated.

"We believe that when they are all fit our bowling unit is a match for anyone in the world."

Australia add Ferguson to ODI squad

Callum Ferguson has been added to Australia's squad for the remaining two one-day games against England after Shaun Marsh became the latest casualty in Australia's batting line-up. The hosts began the series without Ricky Ponting (finger) and Michael Hussey (hamstring) and Marsh joined the injury list during the series-clinching win on Sunday when he hurt his right hamstring.

Marsh entered Sunday's game with a question-mark over his hamstring and he has been ruled out of the rest of the series after scans showed a low-grade injury, although it is still unclear how long he will be sidelined. Marsh is not part of the World Cup squad, but was viewed as the most likely candidate to be included if Hussey's recovery did not allow him to make the trip.

The problems have allowed a late-season call-up for Ferguson, who missed a year due to a serious knee injury and did not bat in his only appearance for Australia since his return, in a game against Sri Lanka in Brisbane in November. Ferguson had been gearing up to be part of South Australia's side for Saturday's Big Bash final, but will instead be pushing for a place in the Australia team.

"Callum has an excellent record in one-day internationals for Australia and is in good form this season," the chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch said. "We are sure Callum will seize the opportunity that comes following the unfortunate hamstring injury suffered by Shaun Marsh."

The series against England concludes with matches in Sydney on Wednesday and in Perth on Sunday, and the players have virtually no break before heading to the World Cup for their title defence. That means a call will need to be made on Hussey, who has had surgery on a serious hamstring injury he suffered during the opening ODI against England.

"At the moment it's only sort of two weeks since the surgery and basically in those two weeks I've been able to hit every target that we've set so far," Hussey told the ABC on Monday. "So that's a good start but I don't want to get too carried away. I just want to keep keep hitting my target.

"I've certainly got exercises I've got to be doing two or three times a day, physio probably three or four times a week. The first sort of week-and-a-half I was struggling a fair bit to get around but just the last four or five days it's been a lot easier to get around. I've seen some improvement everyday which has given me a lot of hope."