LONDON: England one-day wicket-keeper Craig Kieswetter could miss the entire 2015 season as he struggles to recover from a serious eye injury.

H suffered a broken nose, a damaged eye socket and cheekbone when a ball crept through the visor of his helmet playing for his county Somerset against Northamptonshire last July.

The South Africa-born 27-year-old returned to playing but has struggled with his vision and he has now been advised to take a break from the game.

“It is really disappointing but my eye is not 100 per cent and this of course is critical in maintaining the levels of performance that I expect of myself,” Kieswetter said in a statement. “I need to make every effort to resolve the matter and have the best specialist help in that regard.”

Kieswetter, who was named in England’s provisional squad for next year’s World Cup, has played 46 One-day Intern­a­t­ionals and 25 Twenty20 games for his adopted country.

Somerset have said Kieswetter’s long-term prognosis is unknown but he is ‘unlikely’ to be fit for next year.

Kieswetter has withdrawn from the Big Bash T20 competition starting next week in Aust­r­a­lia, where he would have represented Sydney Thunder.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2014