England ban football in warm-ups after Rory Burns injury in Cape Town

Director of men's cricket Ashley Giles has always been against the practice - he banned football during his time in charge of Warwickshire and Lancashire - but had been encouraged to allow the England players to continue the popular activity

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England will no longer play football in their warm-up sessions following the injury sustained by Rory Burns in Cape Town on Thursday.

Burns suffered ankle ligament damage, ruling him out of the rest of the series against South Africa, after kicking the turf while attempting to make contact with the ball in a game ahead of training less than 24 hours before the scheduled start of the second Test.

It was the second such instance of an England player sustaining an injury in a football warm-up in little more than a year, after an incident involving Jonny Bairstow in Sri Lanka in October 2018.

Director of men's cricket Ashley Giles has always been against the practice - he banned football during his time in charge of Warwickshire and Lancashire - but had previously been encouraged to allow the England players to continue the popular activity by senior members of the squad.

However, in the wake of the latest problem to hit his side's troubled tour, Giles and head coach Chris Silverwood have decided that it is time to call time on warm-up matches.

Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen argued on Friday that it was not simply playing football but the intensity of the games played by the national squad which left them more susceptible to injuries.

"We used to play but I don’t think it got as competitive as it is now," he told Sky Sports.

"The guys are going to want to produce good stuff and want to do the most amazing flicks, because they want to be on the highlights. They probably crossed the line of being overly competitive, and trying to be too good footballers.

"If it was non-contact, I’m a great believer that football is okay."

The ECB stressed that the ruling will not be rolled out across the county structure, despite suggestions by Sussex bowler Tymal Mills that strength and conditioning coaches across the country could be about to receive a memo from Lord's on the subject.

Burns' absence gave Zak Crawley a chance at the top of the England order at Newlands, but the Kent batsman could only manage 4 before being caught by Quinton de Kock off the bowling of Vernon Philander.