Ankle Injury Rules Jonny Bairstow Out Of Fifth ODI, One-Off T20I Against Sri Lanka

England will miss the services of their star batsman Jonny Bairstow for the remaining fifth One-Day International and the one-off Twenty20 International against Sri Lanka. The wicketkeeper-batsman has been ruled out of the remaining limited-overs fixtures  because of an ankle injury, the England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed on Sunday (October 21).

Playing football has proved costly for Bairstow as well as England. The right-hander suffered a ligament damage while enjoying a game of football during a training session.

“The scans have revealed he has a right ankle ligament injury. He will be monitored and assessed on a daily basis by the England medical team in Sri Lanka and a further update will be given in due course about his fitness ahead of the three-match Test series,” the ECB said in a statement.

Bairstow is also in a race against time to be fit for the first Test which starts on November 6. Missing Bairstow will definitely be a huge blow for England. The keeper-batsman is the only batsman so far to score 1,000 ODI runs in 2018. He achieved the milestone during the second ODI against Sri Lanka in Dambulla on October 13.

He is just the sixth England player to reach the landmark in a calendar year after David Gower (1983), Chris Broad (1987), Ian Bell (2007), Paul Collingwood (2007) and Jonathan Trott (2011).

Bairstow is an equally important member in England’s Test side. He has so far scored 3,571 runs in 59 matches at an average of 37.19 with a five hundreds and a best of 167 not out against Sri Lanka at Lord’s in 2016.

Meanwhile, the injury will give Alex Hales an opportunity to impress at the top of the order. Hales had surprisingly lost his place in the team just two games after slamming 147 against Australia. He will now be looking to make the most of the opportunity. Hales has already played one game but failed to impress. He had replaced Bairstow in the playing eleven for the fourth ODI. However, he managed to score only 12 off 23 balls.

The fifth and final ODI will be played on October 23 in Colombo.