England Test captain Ben Stokes will play no part in the early stages of Durham's County Championship campaign, but head coach Ryan Campbell firmly believes the allrounder will be operating at 100 per cent for his country this summer.
Stokes is currently undergoing rehab from hamstring surgery at the start of year, after tearing the muscle twice in six months, including aggravating the injury in the final Test of England's tour of New Zealand. The 33-year-old has not played since, but has stepped up his recovery, with a recent video posted on his Instagram showing he has started bowling again.
England begin their Test summer against Zimbabwe on May 22 at Trent Bridge, which leads into a five-match series against India. With a trip to Australia for the Ashes to follow, Stokes will use the next few weeks to reinforce his body for the rigours of 11 Test matches in the space of eight months. Having suffered the first hamstring tear during the Hundred last year, he has already pulled out of representing Northern Superchargers this August to rest after the India series, with the Ashes set to begin in Perth on November 21.
Stokes has frequented Chester-le-Street during his rehabilitation, and was there on Monday during Durham's media day, performing shuttle runs on the outfield. He is one of a trio of England players returning from injury under the club's watch, along with Brydon Carse and Mark Wood. Carse is currently recovering from a left toe injury which forced him to leave last month's Champions Trophy, while Wood underwent surgery to his left knee a fortnight ago which has effectively ruled him out of the Test summer.
With all three integral to England's plans, particularly in Australia, Campbell insists no risks will be taken.
"At this stage, they're probably not likely to play for us," he said. "My expectation is that it'll be zero - anything else is an added bonus.
"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."
Durham will play six Division One fixtures ahead of the Zimbabwe Test. As such, it is possible Stokes could use one of the latter rounds to tune up, should he feel the need.
"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.
"He's such a hard-working bloke and he'll do whatever it takes to be up and running for England, which is really exciting for England fans.
"For Durham fans, if he happens to play a game or two along the way, great. If he doesn't, I know he'll be checking the scores and ringing me to tell me what we should and shouldn't be doing."
Campbell also called for extra patience and caution around Carse and the continued issues with the right-arm quick's landing foot, which became unmanageable during England's second Champions Trophy group-stage match against Australia. The 29-year old emerged from the winter as a vital cog across all formats, particularly in Test cricket, taking 27 wickets at 19.85 in five appearances against Pakistan and New Zealand.
"I think Brydon Carse is probably the number one priority for England right now," said Campbell.
"With what he's shown in Test cricket, he's born for that sort of stuff. There's 11 Tests over the summer and winter, and I think he's going to be number one on England's list to make sure that he's ready to go for that.
"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."