Johannesburg, September 20: Explosive opener Herchelle Gibbs will miss South Africa’s opening match in the ICC Champions Trophy against Sri Lanka on September 22 due to a rib and intercostal injury that he suffered in a warm-up match against the West Indies.
However, Gibbs is expected to be fit for the remainder of the games.
”Herschelle suffered a minor rib and intercostal injury in the warm-up match against the West Indies at Potchefstroom onFriday,” team physiotherapist Brandon Jackson said. ”We will start rehab on Sunday and rest the injury for the next few days.
”We will re-assess his position after Tuesday’s match with the aim of getting him back on the field either for the New Zealand match on Thursday or the one against England next Sunday,” Jackson was quoted as saying by ‘The Cape Times’.
The 35-year-old Gibbs, who has scored 8038 runs from 244 ODIs, suffered the injury as he took a sudden, evasive action to avoid a straight drive by his captain, Graeme Smith, in the opening overs of the West Indies match. He though batted on for a while but pulled up in discomfort after running a sharp two.
Despite Gibbs’ absence in the first mach of the eight-nation tournament, South Africa are in the fortunate position, having an excellent back-up batsman in Hashim Amla who averaged almost 50 in the away ODI series against Australia as a replacement for Smith including a top score of 97 at Perth.
Amla had even made his maiden ODI century against Bangladesh at Willowmoore Park, where he played at the opening slot in place of Gibbs, and guided South Africa to a series-clinching 128-run victory against the minnows.
—–Agencies