English cricketers banned from playing football in training sessions following Burns injury
England's in-form star, Rory Burns, suffered an ankle injury playing football during the training session, which ruled him out of the ongoing test series against the Proteas. In a reaction to this incident, the England team management has decided to ban football from the team's training sessions.
This incident is not the first time that the players have got themselves injured while playing the sport. Ollie Pope also had an injury scare a day before Burns got injured. In 2018, Jonny Bairstow had met a similar fate as his now injured teammate, injuring his ankle and missing the start of the Test series against Sri Lanka.
Here's what Pope told BBC Test Match Special about the situation:
"We'll cop that on the chin and think about another way to get the energy going in the morning.
"Rory has been looking very good. It's a massive shame and bad luck for him."
Burns has been playing well from the day he made his test debut. He has scored 979 runs in 15 matches, at an average of 33.8. He has also added two hundreds and six fifties to his name. Him being ruled out will certainly be a big blow for his team.
Ashley Giles, England cricket director, has always been against playing football as a warm-up activity as there is a lot of risk involved. Here's what he had said previously on the issue:
“If you look at what football does, the benefits from a psychological and fun point of view are outstripped by the dangers from it.”
Burns' replacement has not been confirmed yet, and the management is expected to announce it in the coming two or three days. England are 1-nil down in the series and losing their top-scorer in the first Test has only added to their woes.