England wicketkeeper James Foster faces another spell on the sidelines after breaking his thumb playing for Essex.

The 21-year-old broke his left thumb keeping wicket to John Stephenson against Glamorgan and is expected to be out for anything up to six weeks.

It was only Foster's second match since returning from breaking his forearm at the beginning of the season.

It was an injury which ruled him out of the Test series against Sri Lanka plus the NatWest Series, giving Alec Stewart a chance to reclaim his place.

This latest injury effectively ends Foster's hopes of forcing his way back into contention for the remainder of the summer.

He will now have to focus on the winter tours to Australia and the World Cup in South Africa.

Foster said: "This is a huge blow for me coming so soon after breaking my arm earlier in the season.

"The early indications are that I could be out for a while, but we will have a clearer idea once I have seen the specialist tomorrow [Friday]. "

With Stewart, who became the most capped England player of all-time on Thursday, in good form he faces a fight to get back in the Test side.

Foster came under scrutiny during the winter with a number of costly slips behind the stumps.