England captain Joe Root has become the eighth England player to fall ill on their tour of South Africa after going off the field early on day three at Centurion.
Root left the field on the first hour of the third day, and it was soon confirmed by England that he too had fallen ill and was under quarantine. The news comes hours after it emerged that Jos Buttler had also been afflicted by illness before the start of day. Despite the confirmation from England that Root felt unwell, the England skipper returned to the field within an hour of originally going off the park.
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Stuart Broad, Jofra Archer and Jack Leach missed both warm-up fixtures through illness, and while Broad and Archer returned to full health in time for the Centurion Test, Leach did not. Ollie Pope and Chris Woakes also fell ill ahead of the Test, although Pope has now returned to training. Mark Wood is another player currently under quarantine.
Ben Stokes led the team in Root’s absence.