England opener Emilio Gay suffered an injury scare on Friday, retiring hurt with a shoulder injury while batting for Durham. Gay, who made his Test debut earlier this summer and has held his place in the squad to face Pakistan later this month, was lining up against Middlesex in a Metro Bank One-Day Cup clash at Chester-le-Street when he was forced from the field.

The left-hander appeared to be feeling some discomfort in his right shoulder and the issue came to a head when he stroked Toby Roland-Jones for four past mid-on, immediately clutching the joint before signalling for the physio. Gay, who hit an unbeaten century in his previous innings against Lancashire, continued to wince in pain and eventually departed for the pavilion on nine not out seeking further assessment by the club's medical staff.

Sky Sports News understands that the ECB will assess him on Saturday and they will work with his county. There is no specialist opening cover in the 16-strong England squad that was named this week, with the returning Ollie Pope the spare batter. He spent the majority of the last four years at number three before being dropped after the Ashes, but was recalled in the first squad since Brendon McCullum was sacked as red-ball coach.

Dan Lawrence, who was also brought back to bat at number six following the retirement of Ben Stokes, has previously batted for England in an unfamiliar role at the top of the order but is unlikely to do so again. He averaged 20 in six innings against Sri Lanka after being called in as a short-term replacement for the injured Zak Crawley and was jettisoned from the set-up immediately afterwards.