Darren Gough's knee injury has already ruled him out of England's plans for the ICC Champions Trophy tournament in Sri Lanka next month, and Andrew Flintoff's hernia has left him as only doubtful of being fit to go to Colombo. Now another injury doubt has affected England's planning.

Ronnie Irani, who returned to international cricket with a degree of success during the NatWest Series, is to undergo an arthroscopy on his right knee in an attempt to discover the cause of the injury incurred while playing for Essex against the Indian tourists at Chelmsford last week. Depending on what the operation reveals, the all-rounder is likely to be out of cricket for between two and three weeks. That takes him close to the start of the ICC tournament.

Even if he recovers in time for international duty, his absence will come as a severe blow to his county. Irani has led Essex to third place in the Division Two promotion race in the Frizzell County Championship while there is still a chance of promotion in the Norwich Union League, although the games Essex have in hand over their rivals might prove of less use without Irani's driving presence as captain of the team. He has scored 892 first-class runs this season at an average of 63.71 and taken 26 wickets at 21.07 each, in addition to his substantial contributions in one-day cricket.

© CricInfo