England wait for injured Bairstow

Jonny Bairstow faces a race to be fit for the start of England’s Test series against Sri Lanka after being ruled out of the last two games of the limited-overs series with ankle ligament damage.

Bairstow missed the fourth oneday international on Saturday after hurting his right ankle playing football on the eve of the match.

He was subsequently told he would not be available for tomorrow’s final match of the series on Tuesday or the standalone Twenty20 which follows three days later.

Whether he will be ready to take part in the first Test which begins in Galle on November 6, playing as either a specialist batsman or wicketkeeper, is not yet known.

The fourth one-day match followed a familiar pattern in Pallekele, with the world’s number one side proving too good for their hosts but thunderstorms preventing a full game.

The tourists were home and dry in the pavilion when they awarded an 18-run win on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method, and with it an unassailable 3-0 lead.

No England side have ever won more consecutive series, though any claim this team have as recordbreakers in that regard is compromised somewhat by their upset at the hands of Scotland in a standalone clash in June.

England were set a target of 274, and were comfortably in front of the DLS par at 132 for two when the rain set in.