Sam Curran's Test comeback will be delayed after he was ruled out of the rest of the English summer with a groin injury.
The England allrounder was mooted as an ideal replacement for Ben Stokes after his retirement earlier this summer. However, Curran has struggled with various niggles this year - including an earlier groin issue that ruled him out of the IPL - and he will undergo an operation on his groin on Friday, ruling him out for the rest of the English season.
It is a blow for Curran, who made his Test debut as a 19-year old in 2018 and won the most recent of his 24 Test caps in 2021. His focus on white-ball cricket had largely kept him out of Test conversation, and he has fought his way back into Harry Brook's limited-overs set-up.
But following Stokes' departure, England's management are keen to reintroduce Curran to the Test squad. Selector Marcus North revealed Curran was seriously considered for the first two Tests against Pakistan. However, it was felt an intense workload this summer - including leading MI London in the Hundred - would make it "unfair" on the left-arm seamer to feature in the first two Tests, back-to-back at Headingley and Lord's. As such, he was pencilled in for the squad for the series decider at Edgbaston, starting on September 9.
Part of Curran's tapering into that match included a stint back with Surrey in the County Championship, starting on Thursday at home to defending Division One champions Nottinghamshire. Not only is he out of contention for that and their run-in, but Will Jacks will also not feature after undergoing a successful operation to remove his appendix.
Jacks was an option for the Pakistan series, missing out to Dan Lawrence who occupies the role of spinning allrounder batting at No. 6 alongside four quicks as England look to balance their side without Stokes.
An ECB statement stated England "will monitor his recovery and assess availability ahead of the Sri Lanka [white-ball] series" in September, suggesting Jacks will not be fit enough to be considered for this Pakistan series. The schedule against Sri Lanka starts on September 15 with three T20Is following by three ODIs.