Ball out of first England-South Africa Test

England bowler Jake Ball

England seamer Jake Ball will miss the first Test with South Africa because of a knee injury.

Nottinghamshire head coach Peter Moores confirmed Ball had suffered a knee strain during their County Championship match against Kent on Tuesday.

Ball went for a scan on Wednesday and was unable to return for the third day of play.

The injury means the 26-year-old, who broke into England's Test team last year and played in the series with Pakistan and India, will miss the next two weeks, ruling him out of the opener with South Africa at Lord's, which starts next Thursday.

Ball is also unavailable for Notts' Royal London One-Day Cup final against Surrey at the same venue on Saturday.

Moores told Notts' website: "Jake is naturally very, very disappointed to miss out on the final, having previously been made available to play by the ECB, particularly after missing out on selection when Notts beat Glamorgan at Lord's in 2013.

"He's given his all in this competition when he's been available to us, and we'll miss him for what will be a really tough game against Surrey.

"Jake is a very strong character and I'm sure he'll bounce back from this. I know he'll be wanting us to beat Surrey as much as anybody."

Ball played in every game of the ICC Champions Trophy for England, in which they were beaten in the semi-finals by eventual winners Pakistan.

In his three Test appearances Ball has taken two wickets for the loss of 228 runs, with an economy rate of 3.00.