Ben Stokes is not expected to play in the early rounds of the County Championship as he battles to be fit to lead England, his Durham coach Ryan Campbell said on Monday.
The 33-year-old test captain is recovering from hamstring surgery after breaking down in New Zealand in December, his second hamstring tear in five months.
But the allrounder is not yet ready for action in the four-day domestic championship, which starts on Friday.
England host Zimbabwe in May, with a five-test series against India to follow. Later in the year they head to Australia for a five-match Ashes series.
Durham have six matches in the top tier of the County Championship before the Zimbabwe test.
Campbell, who is also without England quicks Brydon Carse (toe) and Mark Wood (knee), made it clear no risks would be taken.
"When you look at Carse, Stokes and Wood, at this stage they're probably not likely to play for us. My expectation is that it'll be zero – anything else is an added bonus," he said.
"They're all coming back from serious injuries. The facts are that they need to get up and running by the time the test matches start.
'HE SETS THE BAR'
"But what we know about Stokesy is that he's here nearly every single day working his butt off. The guy had hamstring surgery and was in the next day lifting weights, which I couldn't believe. He sets the bar, wherever he is."
Campbell has pledged to protect Carse, 29, who has impressed since making his test debut against Pakistan in October 2024, taking 27 wickets at an average of 19.85 in five matches.
"I think Brydon Carse is probably the No. 1 priority for England right now," he said.
"With what he's shown in test cricket, he's born for that sort of stuff. There are 11 tests over the summer and winter, and I think he's going to be No. 1 on England's list to make sure that he's ready to go for that.
"Does that mean he's going to play for us? I'm not so sure.... We've known about his foot problems for a year now. It's not new, but he needs to get it right if he's going to be playing a lot of test cricket."