Ben Stokes faces a month on the sidelines as the England captain recovers from facial injuries sustained during a training session accident.
The all-rounder was struck by a ball hit by academy player Robbie Bowman while practising in the nets at Chester-le-Street last month, leaving him with a fractured cheekbone along with cuts and bruising.
Following the incident, Stokes underwent surgery and confirmed via social media that the procedure had gone well.
However, his ongoing rehabilitation means the 34-year-old will be unavailable for selection at the start of the county championship campaign.
Stokes had initially targeted the opening round of Rothesay County Championship fixtures against Kent next week for his return to competitive action, having been absent from the field since England's final Ashes defeat in January.
Those plans have now been shelved, with the Durham star expected to miss the opening four matches of the summer programme.
His anticipated comeback is now pencilled in for May, when fixtures against Worcestershire and Kent will provide crucial match practice ahead of England's Test series against New Zealand.
The extended absence gives Stokes additional time to ensure he is fully fit before international duties resume.
Ben Stokes faces a month on the sidelines as the England captain recovers from facial injuries sustained during a training session accident
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Durham coach Ryan Campbell said: "He was going to play the first game, he’s been training so hard to be ready. But he won’t play in that obviously, we have to wait for the specialists to clear him,” said Durham coach Ryan Campbell.
"Unfortunately it’s made a change, the accidental bump. He is pencilled in for Worcester and Kent and I think it will just be those two, to be honest.
"He has got to recover from the facial injuries and then have to build up again. It is a long old summer and he will have that mapped out but is keen and ready to go."
Campbell believes Stokes was lucky not to be in an even worse state after the nature of the blow and is still working through the after effects of the grisly incident.
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England Test captain Ben Stokes sustained painful facial injuries after being struck by a cricket ball during a coaching session with Durham's youth squad at the county's indoor training facility, before later providing a classy phone call | INSTAGRAMHe said: "It was so, so much worse than you’d think. The ball was hit so hard, 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. That could have been horrific. His cheekbone worked the way it is supposed to: it caved in and looked after the rest of him.
"It is a bit scary but a reminder to all of us to keep our eye on the ball, because of that incident you can see all of the coaches are on edge. I noticed for Ben if someone hits one hard, I have seen him flinch which I hadn’t seen before but that is just going through a bad situation. You have got to come out of the other end."
When Stokes does get the whites on, Durham expect to see the benefit of a difficult winter that took his tenure as England skipper hit new lows as Australia eased to a 4-1 win.
Campbell also revealed Stokes has agreed to play in this season’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup, having opted out of The Hundred
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Campbell said: "He has a lot to prove. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know the Ashes didn’t go so well.
“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 arse of and is going to 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 Stokes has agreed to play in this season’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup, having opted out of The Hundred.
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