False dawn: Alex Tudor and Darren Gough prepare for the start of the season .... but it was a curtailed one for Tudor © Getty Images

Alex Tudor's career was again in doubt after it was revealed that he will undergo an operation on his knee on Wednesday which will keep him out of action for the remainder of the season.

Tudor was released by Surrey at the end of 2004 after several years of injury problems - he played only 67 first-class matches in ten seasons with the county - and was signed by Essex on a pay-as-you-play basis for 2005. After a promising start, he injured his knee in a C&G Trophy match against Lancashire in May and played only two National League games since.

"I sincerely believe we haven't seen the last of Alex Tudor," Ronnie Irani, Essex's captain, said. "Having had five or six major operations myself I realise there is always a risk every time you go under the knife that your career could be over. He has had two or three hard winters with rehab, and this will be another, but there is always another way."