Proteas skipper Bavuma goes for elbow injury scan as England, Ireland tour looms

Proteas captain Temba Bavuma is going for medical scans on Tuesday on an elbow injury suffered in the fourth T20 international against India in Rajkot last Friday.

Bavuma sustained the injury when diving for the crease during SA's 82-run loss to the hosts that squared the five-match series 2-all, with Sunday's fifth game decider getting washed out.

Bavuma, who is critical to SA's three formats, as he skippers the white-ball teams and forms the fulcrum of the Test team, is at risk of missing the England and Ireland touring party depending on the extent of the elbow injury.

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The Proteas have a few weeks' break before travelling to England for three ODIs, three T20s and three Tests, with two T20s against Ireland squeezed in before the red-ball action.

"Temba is going for a scan today (Tuesday), so until he's scanned, we're not too sure [about the extent of the injury]," Proteas head coach Mark Boucher said on Tuesday.

"We were really worried after the actual injury because he couldn't bend his arm at all but this morning, he was able to bend it, so that was some good news.

"We wanted to wait until he got back to South Africa to do the scan. I'm sure we'll get feedback later from our medical team."

Bavuma struggled in India recently, posting 10, 35, 8 and 8* in his outings. His strike rate also asked questions of the skipper but Boucher was the least concerned.

The coach said Bhuvneshwar Kumar proved to be Bavuma's undoing. Kumar, however, dismissed Bavuma once, while Yuzvendra Chahal and Axar Patel claimed his wicket in the other two matches.

Bavuma retired hurt after his elbow strain in the fourth match.

"There's no doubt Temba struggled on tour but, as