Left-arm spinner Ashley Giles will undergo groin surgery on Tuesday which will rule him out of England's three Tests and five one-day internationals against Sri Lanka.
The 33-year-old Warwickshire player was one of their several absentees from the recent tour of India after failing to recover as quickly as anticipated from hip surgery.
The hip injury dated back to the start of last summer and Giles missed two Tests against Bangladesh before the 2005 Ashes, and was also forced to leave the pre-Christmas tour of Pakistan.