England's star wicketkeeper-batter Jonny Bairstow will mark his return to international cricket when the Three Lions hosts Ireland in a one-off Test match at Lord's, starting June 1. Bairstow will be seen in England threads after a lengthy gap of just less than a year. Last year, Bairstow was in the form of his life when he suffered three separate fractures while golfing. The unfortunate incident left him with a dislocated ankle and ligament damage. The injury ruled him out of T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia.
Ahead of making his comeback, Bairstow opened up about his devastating injury and the trauma he continues to battle even several months after the incident.
"You wonder whether or not you'll be able to walk again, jog again, run again, play cricket again. Absolutely, those things do go through your mind.
"It depends how long you think about them. There are many different things, until you get back to playing, well… you wonder, is it going to feel the same?" he was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
Bairstow is under no illusion about his recovery from the injury. He understands that he might never "100 per cent" recover from the injury but Bairstow can live with that. He is also confident that he will be fit enough to keep wickets as well.
"It's quite funny, people have said, 'You're limping'. Well, I don't know anyone that's had a major lower leg injury that does walk exactly the same as previously," the England cricketer added.
"There are going to be little limps, there are going to be aches, pains, that's part and parcel of it. Whether it's knees, hips, ankles, lower back, whatever it is.
"When there's trauma, there's going to be an adaptation to the way that your body moves or your body walks, that's just part and parcel of it. I'm not going to be running exactly the same as last year, but that's okay."
"I don't think it's different to fielding - when you're sprinting, changing direction. You're squatting at the stumps and moving laterally, but you're not running at 25ks to the boundary.
"So, it's a different kind of fitness - the old legs and glutes are a bit stiff after that first day in the dirt but it's part and parcel of it," he added.
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