Jonny Bairstow aiming for County Championship return in May

GEORGE DOBELL: Bairstow hasn't played since breaking his leg in a freakish golf accident in September and has pulled out of the IPL

Jonny Bairstow is aiming to return to competitive cricket in May as he continues his rehabilitation from injury.

Bairstow was obliged to pull out of the IPL earlier this week as he had not sufficiently recovered from a freak injury suffered in September. Bairstow broke his leg and suffered ligament damage after slipping on the golf course. The injury forced him out of the T20 World Cup, as well as England's Test tours to Pakistan and New Zealand.

He has, however, now returned to running and batting in the nets. And, at Yorkshire's AGM on Friday, the club's director of cricket, Darren Gough, revealed the plan was for Bairstow to play two Championship fixtures in May before the international summer begins in June with Tests against Ireland and then Australia.

That means, if his recovery continues as anticipated, Bairstow will return in Yorkshire's Championship match against Glamorgan which starts at Headingley on May 4. If he comes through that unscathed, he will play the next round of matches, starting on May 11, against Durham in Chester-le-Street.

^{Bairstow hasn't played since breaking his leg in a freakish golf accident in September (Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)}

"We've a good chance of seeing Jonny for two Championship games in May," Gough said. "Hopefully he'll be available if he continues going in the right direction with his fitness."

Meanwhile the club's chief executive, Steve Vaughan, dismissed any suggestion the club had entered negotiations to sell equity in the club as part of the loan restructuring agreement.

"We've not had one conversation with regards to that," Vaughan said.

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