Rory Burns is expected to miss England's tour of Sri Lanka due to injury. Burns, the opening batsman, sustained a severe injury to his ankle ligaments when he landed awkwardly while playing football in training the day before the second Test in Cape Town.

He is set to see a specialist in the next week, who will determine whether he requires surgery. Only after that decision is made can an estimate be given on a likely return date but, as things stand, the England management do not expect him to be available for the two-Test series in Sri Lanka which starts on March 19.

The news is a cruel blow for Burns and England. He averaged 47.22 in his five Tests before the injury, with one century and three half-centuries, and was arguably the first opener to establish himself in the side since the days of Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook.

If he is deemed unfit to tour Sri Lanka, it will increase speculation that England could hand a recall to Keaton Jennings, who played his last Test a year ago in the West Indies but scored a century in Galle during the 3-0 whitewash in 2018-19.

As a result of the injury to Burns, the England coach, Chris Silverwood has banned the playing of football as a warm-up activity.