London [UK], September 14 (ANI): England batter Jonny Bairstow confirmed on Wednesday that his leg surgery has been completed successfully and is heading back home for rest.
Just hours after the announcement of England’s ICC T20 World Cup 2022 squad, Bairstow was ruled out of the rest of the summer season and the World Cup. Bairstow sustained a lower limb injury in an accident whilst playing golf in Leeds.
Bairstow took to Instagram to announce the successful completion of his operation and thanked his fans for their support and wishes.
“Operation day completed and back home now to rest! Thanks for all your messages of support and wishes!” said a post from Bairstow.
Until his injury, Bairstow was enjoying the form of his life in a highly-prolific summer season of English cricket.
In Test cricket, it was the ‘Summer of Jonny’. In six Test matches, he scored 681 runs at an average of 75.66. He scored four centuries and one half-century, with the best individual score of 162. His four centuries in three back-to-back Tests against New Zealand (two Tests) and India (one) helped his side win the home series against New Zealand by 3-0 and also draw the series against England by 2-2.
Throughout 2022, he also stands as the highest Test run-scorer worldwide, having scored 1,061 runs in 10 matches across 19 innings at an average of 66.31. Six centuries and one half-century have been scored by this aggressive batter.
He was named the ‘Test Cricketer of the Summer’ after the conclusion of England’s home series against South Africa recently.
His ODI stats for this season though were not up to the mark as he scored only 136 runs in five matches at an average of 27.20. His best score in the format was 63, his solitary ODI half-century this season.
Bairstow put on some solid numbers in three T20Is he played this season. He scored 147 runs in three matches at an average of 49.00. His best score in the format is 90 for this season. One half-century has come out of his bat.
Meanwhile, Alex Hales, who has not represented England since 2019 was recalled as Bairstow’s replacement for the T20 WC squad.
England ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Squad: Jos Buttler (Lancashire) Captain, Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Harry Brook (Yorkshire), Sam Curran (Surrey), Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire), Chris Jordan (Surrey), Liam Livingstone (Lancashire), Dawid Malan (Yorkshire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Phil Salt (Lancashire), Ben Stokes (Durham), Reece Topley (Surrey), David Willey (Yorkshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire) Mark Wood (Durham).
Travelling Reserves: Liam Dawson (Hampshire), Richard Gleeson (Lancashire), Tymal Mills (Sussex). ICC T20 World Cup will start from October 16 and will end on November 13.
England had a great campaign during the 2021 edition of the tournament. They reached the semifinal, where they were defeated by New Zealand. (ANI)