WORCESTERSHIRE'S promising paceman Dillon Pennington will be out of action for around eight weeks while he recovers from an ankle ligament injury.

The England under 19 player was given the green light to resume training after overcoming a bruised heel.

But then Pennington suffered the ligament setback in his left ankle during fielding practice last week.

An X-ray on Tuesday highlighted the extent of the injury and the 20-year-old will be on the sidelines until mid-June.

Worcestershire’s head of sport science and medicine Ben Davies said: “Dillon had recovered from his bruised heel and was back in full training.

“Unfortunately Dillon rolled his ankle while taking part in fielding practice and sustained a ligament injury in his left ankle.

“He had an MRI on Tuesday which confirmed the injury and will be out of action for around eight weeks if all goes to plan.”

Pennington made his first-team breakthrough last summer and played in eight County Championship games with 22 wickets.

He produced several promising performances, most notably against Yorkshire at Scarborough and Surrey at Blackfinch New Road.

Meanwhile, Worcestershire all-rounder Moeen Ali has been named in England’s 15-man preliminary squad for the ICC World Cup which gets under way at the end of next month.

The preliminary squad is unchanged from the winter series against West Indies.

Moeen, the County’s official Vitality Blast captain, is also part of an extended 17-strong squad chosen for the Royal London ODI Series against Pakistan.

The five-game series takes place ahead of the world cup and England will finalise their squad when it ends on Sunday, May 19.

Players selected in the squads who are in the Indian Premier League will return to England on or before April 26.

Moeen is playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Moeen have been rested for the one-off ODI against Ireland in Malahide and the NatWest IT20 against Pakistan.