Aiden Markram to undergo surgery; set to miss remainder of Test series against England

What’s the story?

South African opener, Aiden Markram has been ruled out of the ongoing four-match Test series between the Proteas and England due to a fractured finger on his left hand. The batsman suffered the injury when he was on the field during the second day of the 1st Test between the sides at SuperSport Park in Centurion.

In case you didn’t know

Markram had missed a major chunk of cricket lately after he punched the wall in frustration post a dismal performance against India at Pune in October 2019. Subsequently, he fractured his wrist, meaning that he played a bit-part role in the Mzansi Super League.

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The heart of the story

On the 2nd day of action, Markram was dismissed for 2 in the second essay as South Africa stumbled to 72-4 after gaining a 103-run first-innings lead. Following his dismissal, further tests were conducted wherein a decision regarding a prospective surgery was arrived at.

CSA's Chief Medical Officer Dr Shuaib Manjra said,

Aiden sustained a fracture affecting the distal joint of his left ring finger. After consulting with a number of hand specialists yesterday we 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.

What’s next?

South Africa seem relatively ahead in the encounter at Centurion and they would fancy themselves to get the job done over the upcoming days. However, on a personal front, the fractured finger capped off a rather wretched 2019 for Markram, who again endured a year where he failed to hit the heights his talent warrants.