Bairstow Golf freak accident: The star English batter won’t be taking part in ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia.
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England batter Jonny Bairstow has been ruled out of the third Test against South Africa, tour of Pakistan and ICC T20 World Cup 2022 to hand a major setback to the team. The hapless development involving Bairstow has come merely hours after he was named in England’s 15-member squad for the World Cup in Australia next month.
2022, 12th year of Bairstow’s international career, has seen him scoring 1,344 runs in 27 innings across formats at an average of 56 and including six centuries and three half-centuries. With almost four months remaining in the year, Bairstow was in line to convert this year into his career-best by surpassing his tally of 1,701 runs across formats in 2018.
Not expected to return to field anytime soon, it will be interesting to see if Bairstow plays any part during England’s winter tours after the world event.
Bairstow Golf freak accident
For the unversed, Bairstow has suffered a lower limb injury. The most unfortunate part is that the 32-year old player didn’t injure himself on a cricket ground.
It was during Bairstow’s recreational golf session this morning that he slipped on the golf course to do harm to his “lower leg”. Bairstow took to his social media platforms to both provide details about a freak accident and express shock around missing a World Cup in one of his best years as an international cricket.
Who has replaced Jonny Bairstow in England T20 World Cup 2022 squad?
As far as the imminent third England vs South Africa Test match at The Oval is concerned, batter Ben Duckett has replaced Bairstow in a 14-member squad. Duckett, 27, had played the last of his eight international matches across formats over three years ago. As far as the last of his four Tests is concerned, the left-handed batter had taken the field during England’s tour of India 2016.
On the other hand, England are yet to name Bairstow’s replacement for the T20 World Cup. “A further announcement will be made in due course on who will replace Bairstow in England’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup squad.” ECB (England Cricket Board) said in a statement.
However, it is worth mentioning that former England batter and current managing director of men’s cricket and interim chair of selectors Rob Key had recently disclosed that Bairstow is being considered to open alongside captain Jos Buttler during the World Cup. With Jason Roy dropped from the T20I squad, the move made quite a lot of sense.
While there’s no dearth of in-form top-order batters in England, Bairstow’s injury could end up becoming a boon for Alex Hales. A bona fide opener, Hales hasn’t any played international match since England’s tour of West Indies 2019.
Left out of the squad before the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 due to a non-cricketing reason, Hales deserves a comeback for all that he has done in T20 leagues around the world in this period. Since his last match for England, Hales has amassed 4,599 runs in 155 T20 innings at an average and strike rate of 32.62 and 152.89 respectively to be the highest run-scorer in the format.
