Stuart Broad will begin his summer with Nottinghamshire after being ruled out of England’s One Day Internationals against Sri Lanka.
The England T20 Captain has had an enforced layoff to rehabilitate his injured knee and will step-up his training this week.
"I've played a lot of one-day cricket this winter so the decision was taken that I could take a six-week period to make sure the knee is fine to play throughout this summer," said Broad
"It gives other guys an opportunity and gives me a really good chance to get my knee a bit stronger and play some Championship cricket with Nottinghamshire before the Test matches.”
Broad is penciled in to line up against Durham from Sunday 25 May although it remains to be seen if he will be cleared to feature in NatWest T20 Blast matches given his priority aim of tuning up for the first Test against Sri Lanka.
His injury is a result of the rigours of the international winter and he may yet require surgery at the end of the season.
"The workload of the winter thickened the right tendon quite a lot so it was double the size on my left one,” said Broad.
“Fortunately it is one of those injuries that, when you are playing cricket and have the adrenaline going, doesn't really bother you.
“But you sit in the car for 10 minutes and it's like torture. I think the season finishes really early so there is a September-October period if it is still bugging me to maybe go inside.
“It's only a six-week rehab for an operation anyway so it's not the end of the world. Hopefully after this good rehab period I'll be fine."
Somewhat predictably, Kevin Pietersen was high in the media agenda when Broad was questioned at an ECB sponsorship launch at the Royal Opera House.
"Every player gets dropped and every player moves on and cricket will always continue when everyone is out of the set-up,” said Broad.
“I remember there was a big thing when Freddie Flintoff retired and we had the most successful three years the England team have ever had.
"It would surprise me if KP nipped into the Lord's changing room, to be honest. But yeah, of course he would be welcome."
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