England start their four-match series against South Africa on Thursday (Picture: Getty)

England wicket-keeper Jonny Bairstow suffered a brief and bizarre injury scare ahead of the first Test against South Africa after facing Sachin Tendulkar’s son in the Lord’s nets.

Bairstow, 27, faced only one delivery but was forced to cut his session short after being struck on the foot by the teenage bowler, according to the Daily Mail.

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Tendulkar’s son, 17-year-old Arjun, was practising with England and his first ball was a yorker that pinned Bairstow.

While the Yorkshire star is in no danger of missing the opening Test, which starts on Thursday, the in-form batman briefly received medical assistance to ease the pain during Wednesday’s session.




Bairstow will be hoping to maintain his incredible run over the past 18 months against the No 2 Test team in the world, who will be without their captain Faf du Plessis.

Bairstow was pinned on the foot by the teenage bowler (Picture: Getty)

Sachin Tendulkar with his son Arjun in 2011 (Picture: Getty)

Du Plessis, 32, returned home following the difficult birth of his first child and will link up with the South Africa squad ahead of the second match.

New captain Joe Root confirmed Toby Roland-Jones would be the unfortunate member of England’s 12-man squad to miss out at Lord’s.

‘I’ve decided on the team, Liam [Dawson] is going to play. Toby is the unfortunate one to miss out but he’s really impressed everyone with the way he has gone about his business,’ he said.

‘Liam’s character is exceptional – the way he bowled in India and so far this season has been brilliant. He’ll bring us a lot of control and a bit of depth in our batting as well.

Joe Root has named his team for the first match against South Africa (Picture: Getty)

‘Gary [Ballance] is going to bat at three. The way he has played this year and the amount of runs he has scored has been excellent.

‘Hopefully he will get off to a cracking start this week and show everyone that he’s an international cricketer.

‘I look at the team and I think it’s got great balance. The guys are raring to go and really looking forward to tomorrow.’

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