County duo are added to the injury list

Rob Keogh will miss the County's game against Durham after fracturing his right index finger

Both Rob Keogh and James Kettleborough sustained cracked fingers on the first day of the pre-season friendly against Yorkshire at Wantage Road which takes the number of injured players to seven.

The quintet of David Willey (back), Alex Wakely (Achilles), Ben Duckett (knee), David Sales (calf) and Rob Newton (thumb) are already on the sidelines and it doesn’t paint a promising picture ahead of the first competitive game of the season on Sunday.

But while both Keogh and Kettleborough are expected to be missing for around three weeks and the pairing of Duckett and Willey have had no date set for a return to action, head coach David Ripley isn’t too concerned.

And he thinks both Sales and Newton coule be back in the frame for the Durham clash this weekend.

He said: “Rob (Keogh) needs a small operation and stitches in the top of his index finger so that’s a bit more complicated than just a fracture.

“And James (Kettleborough) might be back sooner depending on how quickly the swelling goes down and when he can hold a bat comfortable again.

“Despite all of this, I’m still confident about Sunday.

“The side I was picturing for the first game hasn’t changed that much and if Sales and Newton are fit, and both have been hitting balls this week, then it will soften the blow of losing the other two.”