Heel injury puts Duminy out for up to six months

JP Duminy, the South Africa batsman, has been ruled out of the rest of the Brisbane Test and faces three to six months out of the game after rupturing an Achilles tendon in his left heel during the post-play warmdown on Friday. He will have surgery on Saturday.

Duminy had played no part in the on-field action during the day, but was doing drills with fitness trainer Rob Walter when he slipped. After going down, he was treated on the field by physiotherapist Brandon Jackson and had to be carried off by bowling coach Allan Donald and Jackson. He was taken for X-rays immediately afterwards, which revealed the injury.

"He was running in the shuttle sprints and heard a pop," Mohammed Moosajee, the South African team manager, said. "The diagnosis of an Achilles' tendon rupture was confirmed by the MRI scan this evening and he will undergo surgery to re-attach the tendon on Saturday morning.

"Injuries of this nature are caused by a sudden contraction against the direction of movement by the calf muscle, as was the case during his sprint. We will only be able to gauge an expected recovery date further down the line, but injuries of this nature have been known to take up to six months before the player can resume playing cricket.

"He is obviously disappointed, but is trying his best to stay positive; he says everything happens for a reason."

Duminy will fly home, and 12th man Faf du Plessis will take up fielding duties for South Africa in his absence. South Africa will name a replacement for Duminy on Monday.

Duminy's injury means that South Africa, who are playing the Brisbane Test without a specialist spinner, are without their favoured part-time spinner too. Graeme Smith would have to bowl himself or Alviro Petersen should the need for a bit of spin arise.

There is some irony in Duminy's mishap. He made his Test debut in Australia four years ago, when an injury to Ashwell Prince resulted in a spot in team opening up. Duminy was one of the standout performers of South Africa's 2-1 series win then.

Although he was dropped a year later, Duminy made a comeback in March when Jacques Kallis' stiff neck in New Zealand created a vacancy. He scored a century in Wellington and was able to secure a permanent spot in the team when Mark Boucher's enforced retirement, also due to injury, allowed South Africa to lengthen their batting as AB de Villiers filled the wicketkeeper's role.