Ireland pace bowler Boyd Rankin has been hit by an injury blow ahead of the start of the English county season.

The 27-year-old Irishman is to miss the first six weeks of the season with a stress reaction to his right foot. Rankin has suffered this injury before, and spent time with Allan Donald in South Africa attempting to remodel his action in an attempt to prevent a reoccurrence of the injury.

Bears director of cricket Ashley Giles was clearly unhappy at losing Rankin and told the Warwickshire website. "It's extremely frustrating that we've lost Boyd to this kind of injury,but he has had an extremely large workload over recent months. "

Rankin was of course an ever-present for the Irish as they played 11 games in 12 days in their successful qualification for the ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka.

Giles hinted though that his future participation for Ireland may well have to be looked at, stating:"We will need to manage this to ensure that it doesn't become a regular occurrence.

"It's disappointing to lose Boyd just before the start of the season.

"But we do have a strong bowling attack and it's a good opportunity for one of the younger seamers to make a big impression.

"We also have the benefit of not starting our County Championship campaign until next Thursday."