LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) —England Test captain Ben Stokes will be sidelined for the first month of the county season as he recovers from facial injuries sustained in a training accident.

Stokes suffered a broken cheekbone after being hit by the ball during a net session with his Durham team-mates last month.

The 34-year-old said that his subsequent surgery was a success, although his photo on Instagram, showing a badly swollen and bruised face, revealed the extent of the horrific injury.

The prolonged rehabilitation process means that Stokes has had to delay his return to action.

The all-rounder, who has not played since the final game of England’s Ashes series thrashing in Australia in January, was originally hoping to make his comeback against Kent in Durham’s first round of County Championship fixtures next week.

But he now looks likely to sit out the first four matches of the domestic campaign before preparing for the New Zealand Test series by facing Worcestershire and Kent in May.

“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,” Durham coach Ryan Campbell said.

“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 to avoid further damage given the nature of the grisly injury.

“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,” he said.

“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.”