Northants batter Emilio Gay targeting May comeback as he recovers from knee operation

The Northants opener underwent an operation on a stress fracture on his left knee-cap three weeks ago, with the club announcing the left-hander will subsequently miss the start of the season.

No timescale has been put on his return, but Gay is hopeful he can be fully fit and available for selection for the final two LV= Insurance County Championship clashes of the opening six-game block.

That means he's setting his sights set on the May 11 date against Nottinghamshire at the County Ground, but Gay knows there are no guarantees.

And the 22-year-old accepts he is going to have to show patience and pay heed to the advice of club's fitness department before returning.

Speaking at the club’s media day on Wednesday, Gay said: "Sometimes the official diagnosis and my thoughts are slightly different!

"But I am three weeks on from surgery, I saw the consultant the other day, and I have the physios checking it every day.

"So far everything is on schedule, and as good as it can be so far.

"Obviously the challenge will be moving into some proper gym work and running, sprinting and turning and stuff.

"So we will wait and see what happens when I get to that stage, but hopefully, the way I am going, I can catch a couple of the red-ball games before the T20s.

"I want to get some cricket in before those T20s start, but again it is still up in the air a little bit. We are only a few weeks on from the surgery process, but so far it is good."

Gay also revealed exactly how he was struck down by injury, with a penalty kick taken in a training session proving to be the tipping point.

"I was in Australia over the winter which went pretty well, but I had a little bit of a niggle in my left knee, just from a bit of gym, running and cricket, and I didn't think much of it," said the Bedford-born player, who turns 23 on April 14.

"I spoke to a couple of experts back here and physios, and it didn't seem to be too much of an issue.

"It then started to get a little bit worse over the course of the last month or so (in Australia), which I put down to workload really, and then when I got back here it was okay.

"I felt pretty good, and then one morning I went to take a penalty and it just went, and that tipped it over the edge.

"I then found out I had a stress fracture in that knee-cap, so that resulted in surgery because that was the quickest and easiest way to get me back as soon as possible. I am three weeks on from that now."

The injury is an obvious frustration for Gay.

He was one of Northants' leading performers in red-ball cricket last summer, and was looking forward to building on that in 2023.

"Realistically, this summer was one I was really eyeing up," he admitted.

"I was aiming to try and get Northants into winning positions, and then also get noticed and get higher recognition. I wanted to build on what I did last year.

"The winter was good, I was strong in areas I was trying to work on, and I had some game time out in Melboure, so it went as well as it could have.

"That is why it is a little but more frustrating for me.

"I felt really good when I got back (to Northampton), I was ready to start the season strong, but it is part of the game.

"I have now got to just try and do what I can to get back as soon as I can."