Ben Stokes revealed this week that England’s players are calling their assignment in South Africa “the cursed tour” and yet more evidence that is the case presented itself on Thursday when Rory Burns was ruled out of the rest of the series after injuring an ankle during a game of football on the eve of the second Test.

The news, which leaves a sizeable hole at the top of England’s batting order, came soon after it emerged Jofra Archer is all but certain to miss this Cape Town Test with an elbow injury that flared up on New Year’s Day. Unlike Burns, who will return home for treatment on the left ankle that has sustained ligament damage, it is hoped Archer will be fit for the final two Tests of the four-match series.

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England are 1-0 down after their opening 107-run defeat at Centurion and will now be without their leading run-scorer and wicket-taker from that match when the second Test starts at Newlands on Friday morning.

Burns was one of the few players not struck down with sickness that affected 17 members of the touring party over the Christmas period. Yet his freak tour-ending injury during a game of football – a completely avoidable scenario – has only increased the sense of fatalism surrounding the England camp.

Burns landed awkwardly on his left ankle in the follow-through from a shot that saw him score despite the close attention of Joe Root. However, not even VAR could apportion any blame to England’s captain during the incident that saw Burns roll his ankle before being treated by the team doctor, Anita Biswas, and helped from the field.

An England statement, released after Burns had a scan, said: “Rory Burns has sustained ligament damage to his left ankle. He has been ruled out of the remainder of the South Africa Test series and will return home for further assessment and treatment at the earliest convenience.”

It means Zak Crawley, the 21-year-old opener who made his Test debut at No 6 against New Zealand in Hamilton in late November, is likely to partner Dom Sibley at the top of the order for the remainder of the series.

The immediate fallout from Burns’s injury will see England ban the squad from playing football. Ashley Giles, the England director of cricket who arrives in Port Elizabeth next week before the third Test, called for football to be banned when he took on the role a year ago. Giles said it put players at undue risk of injury but, after talks with Root, did not ban the matches because of their popularity with the squad. That was despite Jonny Bairstow missing several weeks of last winter’s tour of Sri Lanka after also injuring an ankle playing football before the fourth ODI in Pallekele. Now it seems practicality has been prioritised over popularity.

The fitness problem with Archer, England’s quickest bowler, is also a worry. The 24-year-old did not train on Thursday and England were awaiting the results of a scan before officially ruling him out.

Root indicated a bowler who has played 22 games for England since making his debut last May would not be risked. He said: “I think it’s a recurring injury. That is something you want to manage in a young talent like Jofra, making sure we don’t blow him out for six months and make sure we get the most out of him for as long as we can.”

Root confirmed the fast bowler Mark Wood and the Somerset spinner Jack Leach were not fit enough to be considered. With a dry pitch at Newlands, it appeared certain Dom Bess, who played two Tests against Pakistan in 2018, would come into the side. Ollie Pope, the Surrey batsman who missed the first Test after being struck down with the virus that swept through the England camp, was also expected to come into the XI for Bairstow.

As for talk of the “cursed” tour, Root, speaking before Burns’s injury, admitted: “It’s been frustrating throughout but these things happen in sport. You’ve got to manage them as best you can.”