After sustaining a fracture to his fourth left finger in the ongoing first Test between South Africa and England at the SuperSport Park in Centurion, Protea Aiden Markram has been ruled out.
The right-handed batsman will not play the remaining three Tests of the series as well. His injury will require surgery and will remove him from play for at least six weeks.
“Aiden sustained a fracture affecting the distal joint of his left ring finger,” said CSA Chief Medical Officer Shuaib Manjra.
“After consulting with a number of hand specialists we have arrived at a decision that the best outcome would be achieved through surgical reduction and fixation. This would mean him unfortunately missing the rest of the series against England.
“We feel for Aiden who worked extremely hard to come through his previous hand fracture sustained in India to be Test match ready,” he added.
Markram came up with the figures 20 and 2 in the first and second innings of the match, respectively.
After a superb bowling effort, South Africa had taken a lead of 215 runs at the time of writing the news on Day 3 of the first Test.
Earlier, South Africa had scored 284 runs in their first innings. In its response, England were bundled out for a meager 181.
A total of 15 wickets fell on Friday, where 10 wickets were of the visitors. The Three Lions lost four wickets in the second and third session each with their last seven wickets coming for just 39 runs.
Vernon Philander, who will retire from international cricket after the ongoing series, was the chief destroyer as he returned figures of 4 for 16. Meanwhile, Kagiso Rabada ended with 3 for 68.