South Africa 's star fast bowler Kagiso Rabada is an injury doubt for the upcoming Test match series against England.
Rabada missed the final T20I against England on Sunday with a niggle, having been rested for the ODI series that preceded it. And Cricket South Africa (CSA) have now confirmed the 27-year-old has sustained a left medial ankle injury and will not play in their two T20Is against Ireland on Wednesday and Friday.
A statement from CSA said Rabada will "continue medical management and rehabilitation" and that his "progress will be closely monitored" ahead of the first Test against England at Lord's.
However, they did not give a timeframe on a potential return and Rabada would be a massive loss if he was unavailable. South Africa are currently leading the World Test Championship and Rabada has been their leading wicket taker.
The 27-year-old has picked up 30 wickets at an average of just 20 in five matches and South Africa will be hoping he is fit to face England. Head coach Mark Boucher, meanwhile, is looking forward to going up against an England side that are unbeaten under the new coach and captain combination of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes.
"It's probably the way that red-ball cricket is going," Boucher said when asked about England's new 'Bazball' approach. "There's going to be times where the conditions don't allow you to play that way but if the conditions allow you to play that way, I'm sure that you're going to see batting line-ups try and put bowlers under pressure.
"We know how Brendon played and we've heard the conversations around him when he was coach of KKR [IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders] as well that he wanted to have this really aggressive style of play. It's exciting to watch.
"I watched a lot of those games and England did really well. It's probably a little bit of an advantage to us in a way to have seen and we can expect them to come out and play the same brand of cricket that they are playing.
"A couple of things you need to understand is that you need to have the right players in your team to be able to do that, and the conditions need to be favourable as well."
