Injured Bairstow out of final ODI
Jonny Bairstow will miss England’s final ODI and one-off T20I against Sri Lanka after scans revealed a right ankle ligament injury.
Bairstow sustained the injury while playing football in practice on Friday and subsequently missed the fourth ODI in Kandy on Saturday.
The 29-year-old will be monitored by the England Medical Team on a daily basis with a further update on his fitness given in due course ahead of the three-test series in Sri Lanka, which starts in Galle on November 6.
The fifth ODI against Sri Lanka will be staged at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Tuesday (23), with the T20 international held at the same venue on Saturday (27).
Bairstow is the only batsman so far to score 1,000 ODI runs in 2018, completing the milestone during England’s victory in the second ODI against Sri Lanka in Dambulla on October 13.
The Yorkshireman 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 has also become an instrumental part of England’s Test side as wicket-keeper batsman scoring 3,571 runs in 59 matches at an average of 37.19 with five hundreds and a best of 167 not out against Sri Lanka at Lord’s in 2016.