Colchester cricket star Graham Napier is set to miss the rest of the season after the Essex all-rounder was disgnosed as having a stress fracture of the back.
The news comes as a blow to Essex, who face Surrey Lions in the Friends Provident t20 at Chelmsford tonight and followed the revelation that Ryan ten Doeschate is set to be sidelined for a further six to eight weeks by a calf injury.
Napier said: “Having missed out on nearly the whole of the Friends Provident t20 campaign this comes as a real blow.
"It will have to be a long and patient recovery, I now need to allow the back to settle and heal over the next 12 weeks.
"If the healing process goes well I would look to be able to start playing cricket again in December, otherwise it will be at the beginning of the 2011 domestic season.”
Ten Doeschate will also miss the remainder of the Friends Provident t20 campaign after tearing his calf muscle in the Eagles win at Somerset two weeks ago.
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