Craig Kieswetter may discover this week whether his professional cricket career is likely to be ended by the eye injury he suffered last summer.

Former England wicketkeeper Kieswetter suffered the damange to his eye socket batting for Somerset against Northamptonshire.

He returned for his county towards the end of the season but, while playing in his native South Africa in early winter, he realised his vision was still impaired.

The 27-year-old has already ruled out any realistic prospect of playing next summer and is due to discover a likely longer prognosis in an imminent consultation with a specialist.

Somerset director of cricket Matthew Maynard spelled out that much may depend on Kieswetter’s latest medical update.

He told BBC Somerset: “We’re hoping that after he sees the specialist he’ll have a method of getting his eye back to 100 per cent.

“The feedback we get from that will be quite instrumental, but potentially it could be career-ending.

“If we were to get him back that would be a huge lift for everyone. But we are planning for him to not be around this season.”