By Graham Hardcastle
Yorkshire leg-spinner Josh Poysden does not expect to return to cricket next year wearing a protective face mask after suffering a fractured skull in the Emerald Headingley nets last week.
Poysden, 27, was ruled out for the rest of the season after he was struck in the head by a ball whilst giving throw downs to team-mate Dom Bess indoors last Monday.
The former Warwickshire bowler was accompanied to hospital that evening by Yorkshire physio Kunwar Bansil and their assistant strength and conditioning coach Pete Sim, also his housemate, before being transferred to the neurology unit at Leeds General Infirmary after a CT scan revealed the damage.
In New Zealand, Otago seamer Warren Barnes first used a protective face and head mask in late 2017.