By Betsefy
Jonny Bairstow has been forced to withdraw from England‘s T20 World Cup squad after suffering a “freak injury” on Friday.
Earlier in the day, the ECB named the squad for the upcoming international competition in Australia, which is due to begin on October 16.
As expected, Bairstow was selected in the 15-man squad and had been set to open the batting after Jason Roy was omitted from the group.
However, those plans changed on the same day that they were announced with the 32-year-old possible sustaining a broken leg while playing golf.
According to BBC Sport, Bairstow was walking to a tee box when he slipped, with The Times suggesting that he may have fractured his shin or ankle.
© Reuters
With Bairstow, who has enjoyed one of the best summers of his career, also being ruled out of the third Test match with South Africa, the ECB has released a statement on the incident and the plan going forward.
It read: “England and Yorkshire batter Jonathan Bairstow has been ruled out of the rest of the summer and the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
“Bairstow sustained a lower limb injury in a freak accident whilst playing golf on Friday in Leeds. He will see a specialist next week to ascertain the full extent of the injury.
“Nottinghamshire batter Ben Duckett has been added to the Test squad for the LV= Insurance third Test at the Kia Oval starting next Thursday.
“A further announcement will be made in due course on who will replace Bairstow in England’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup squad.”
Duckett returns to the Test arena after a near six-year absence, the last of his four appearances coming against India in November 2016.
