Jonny Bairstow ruled out of 3rd South Africa Test, T20 World Cup due to limb injury

England cricket team suffered a huge blow on Friday evening as Jonny Bairstow has been ruled out for the rest of the summer along with the T20 World Cup later this year in Australia. The announcement came from the ECB, ruling out the batter for the upcoming third Test against South Africa, commencing next week.

The Yorkshireman suffered a freak lower limb injury during a game of Golf in Leeds on Friday and will be seeing a specialist in the coming days to quantify the full extent of his injury. With the third and final Test between England and South Africa commencing on Thursday next week, the ECB has named Nottinghamshire's Ben Duckett as a replacement for Bairstow in the Test squad. 

Jonny Bairstow was named in the T20 squad as the designated opener for the English team

The injury blow has once again opened the doors for the likes of Alex Hales, who was omitted from the T20I squad even after a prolific campaign in the Hundred. Jonny Bairstow has been in sensational touch with the bat in Tests throughout the summer and his absence from the T20I team will be a huge concern for the English skipper Jos Buttler, who is recovering from an injury himself.

An announcement will be made by the ECB in due course on the replacement of the batting ace in the T20I squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia. Meanwhile, Jason Roy is another player who can get a ticket to Australia with Bairstow being unavailable. The dashing opener, who has been a vital part of England's white-ball teams since a while, hasn't been picked for the gala tournament owing to his poor run of form. 

However, with Bairstow being unavailable, the selectors might look back the swashbuckler, given his experience at the highest level. Meanwhile, Philip Salt is currently the frontrunner to partner skipper Buttler at the top in the upcoming T20 World Cup.