London, May 16 (IANS) England’s left-arm spinner Jack Leach will be returning to cricketing action for Somerset via their match against Kent in the County Championship on Friday, after recovering from a knee injury.

Leach had a surgery after suffering a left knee injury while fielding to stop a boundary on the first day of England’s Test series opener against India in Hyderabad earlier this year. On day two of the match, Leach aggravated the injury, which meant he picked a swelling on the injured knee.

It meant he was unable to bowl long bowling spells, though he did bowl 26 overs in the first innings. But Leach managed to bowl 10 overs in the second innings, and took out Shreyas Iyer as England secured a famous 28-run victory at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.

He missed the next Test at Visakhapatnam and was expected to be fit in time for the third Test at Rajkot. But it was decided during England’s break from the series at Abu Dhabi that Leach won’t take any part for England in the remaining three Tests and was sent back home for the surgery.

“Having Leachy back in the squad is a big boost for the group, but also for him. It’s been a tough road back for him and he’s worked incredibly hard. He’s an infectious character and he’s got vast experience.”

“He’s incredibly well respected and we saw today in practice that he’s always got time for people. We’re all looking forward to seeing him back in a Somerset shirt and enjoying his cricket, and we’ll make a decision on whether that is this weekend tomorrow,” said Somerset head coach Jason Kerr to the side’s official website.

Meanwhile, England Test captain Ben Stokes has been included in Durham's squad to face Lancashire in their county championship match on Friday. His last competitive cricket match was England’s fifth Test against India at Dharamshala in March.

Stokes opted out of England’s title defence of Men’s T20 World Cup, happening from June 1-29 in the West Indies and United States to focus on the County Championships before the start of home Test series against the West Indies in July.

“The decision will always be up to Ben Stokes. He has been through everything he needs to go through and we just needed to tick a few boxes with the ECB. For us, we always talk about playing against the best players in the competition, but to have one in your own team makes life a whole lot different.”

“It will also lift the blokes. Some of them haven’t played with Ben for years, if at all. England cricket needs a fit Ben Stokes and what we see should be pretty impressive,” said Durham head coach Ryan Campbell.