England bowler Jofra Archer will miss the forthcoming Test tour of Sri Lanka and the entire the Indian Premier League season, due to a stress fracture in his right elbow.
The 24-year-old has been struggling with the problem throughout the winter and missed the final three Tests of the recent series against South Africa.
Archer was withdrawn from the current One-Day International and Twenty20 series but is now facing a prolonged spell on the sidelines.
As well as a major blow to England captain Joe Root's plans, Archer would also have been a key player in the Rajasthan Royals' IPL campaign.
An ECB statement said: "England fast bowler Jofra Archer underwent further scans on his injured right elbow yesterday in the UK. The scans confirmed that Archer has suffered a low grade stress fracture of the right elbow.
"As a result of the injury, he has been ruled out of England's Test tour of Sri Lanka and the Indian Premier League 2020 season.
"He will now commence an injury rehabilitation programme with the ECB medical team with a view to be ready for the international summer campaign starting in June against West Indies in a three-match Test series."
Archer, who only made his international debut in May, picked up the injury following England’s opening Test defeat against South Africa at Centurion last month. He took six wickets in the match, including 5-102 in the second innings.
Archer first had a scan on his elbow after being ruled out of the second Test at Cape Town because of pain in the area last month, which showed no major damage. It was thought he would be available for the final Test at Johannesburg but he was a late withdrawal.
However, the nature of the injury often means the first scan shows nothing significant. Only when the swelling had reduced did Archer undergo a more sophisticated scan, which involved injecting dye into the joint to show inflammation.
The Barbadian-born paceman ended last year having bowled more overs for his country than any other England player, having played a key role in the 50-over World Cup victory and 2-2 Ashes series draw with Australia – both on home soil.
In all formats, Archer bowled 400.5 overs in 2019, ahead of Stuart Broad (367.4) and Ben Stokes (336.2).
Root admitted after last summer's Ashes that he was focused on protecting his new "special" talent. "For someone right at the beginning of their career to have such a gift, it's great to be able to captain that and I very much look forward to the rest of his journey," Root said.
"But we've got to be careful not to expect too much of him, he's a young guy. He's still learning and I'm still learning how to get the best out of him as a captain."
But some observers were already expressing their concerns about how England were using Archer. Former West Indies fast bowler Michael Holding described his overuse as tantamount to “abuse”.
In the second Ashes Test at Lord's in August, Archer bowled 22 of the 75 overs overs sent down on the penultimate day.
"Archer bowled a third of all the overs bowled. That's a spinner's quota," Holding told The Independent. "If you keep bowling him like this you will lose the 96mph delivery. He'll still bowl fast, 90mph, but do you want to lose the express pace? It is not just about this match or the next, but next year and the one after that.
“It’s abuse. When I was bowling, we had three other quicks just as fast. We could share the burden.”
England are scheduled to play two Tests against Sri Lanka next month, with the first starting on March 19.
After Sri Lanka, Archer was due to feature in the IPL, where he, Buttler, Stokes and Tom Curran are registered with Rajasthan Royals.
However, he will now turn his attention towards getting fit for England's first assignment of the summer: the first of three Tests against the West Indies, starting on June 4 at The Oval.
