England Test captain Ben Stokes is poised to miss the first month of the County Championship season with Durham as he continues to recover from facial surgery.
The 34-year-old suffered a broken cheekbone as well as gruesome cuts and bruising after being struck by a ball in the nets at Chester-le-Street in February.
Stokes deemed his operation a success but his hopes of playing in Durham's Division Two opener at home to Kent from Good Friday have been dashed.
Durham coach Ryan Campbell said his side are waiting for specialists to clear Stokes, who also seems set to sit out games versus Gloucestershire, Lancashire and Middlesex.
The all-rounder could then return for fixtures against Worcestershire and Kent in May ahead of England's first Test of the summer against New Zealand at Lord's from June 4.
Campbell said of Stokes: "He was going to play the first game. He's been training so hard to be ready but we have to wait for the specialists to clear him.
"[The injury] was so, so much worse than you'd think. The ball was hit so hard and we are just lucky he got away with it.
"The initial whack was bad. If it hits him in the eye, it could have been different, could have been horrific. His cheekbone worked the way it is supposed to: it caved in and looked after the rest of him."
Stokes averaged just 18.40 with the bat as England were thumped 4-1 in The Ashes over the winter, while he suffered a groin injury in the final Test and has not played since.
He was retained as skipper after the awful tour of Australia, with Stokes saying in an Instagram post that the results and fallout had made for "the hardest period of my captaincy journey."
With that in mind, Campbell expects Stokes to come back on a mission.
"He has a lot to prove. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know the Ashes didn't go so well," the Durham coach added.
"He is a proud man who wants England to be the best team in the world. I have no doubt the Ashes knocked him for six. He was gutted but now he has taken a breath.
"He is going to train his a**e of and come back as the best all rounder in the world that we know he can be.
"It is exciting for England to see what he is putting himself through to get ready because that boy can play."
Campbell also revealed that Stokes will play for Durham in the Metro Bank One Day Cup after opting to skip The Hundred as he looks to build fitness ahead of the second half of England's Test summer against Pakistan from August 19.
Watch England's home international summer live on Your Site, starting with a three-Test series against New Zealand from June 4. .
