Pope, who has twice suffered shoulder dislocations in the past, underwent a scan in London on Monday, which revealed the full extent of the injury, He will undergo surgery and will miss the final three Tests against Australia, before beginning his rehabilitation under the guidance of the England and Surrey medical teams.

"It's a pretty tough situation when you nearly bust your shoulder and you're told it was an external [injury]," Patel said. "It was always going to happen. He's so committed to this team. He was always going to fall on something. And now he's back off."

Pope is also England's designated vice-captain, although that leadership gap is straightforward to fill, with Stuart Broad likely to step up as Ben Stokes' deputy, having fulfilled the role unofficially last summer.

The bigger issue, however, is who now steps into the vacant No. 3 spot at Headingley.

Despite averaging 22.50 across four innings against Australia, Pope has averaged 45.25 at first-drop since Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum took charge at the start of last summer. Now, with England 2-0 down and facing a must-win match to keep the Ashes alive, there is an unwanted problem to solve at the top of the order.

Dan Lawrence is the closest thing to a like-for-like replacement. He is already the only spare batter in the squad, with England choosing not to name a replacement in their squad, and has also been in sound domestic form, scoring 491 runs at 44.63 for Essex with two centuries.

Another option could be to re-introduce Moeen Ali to the side following his finger injury, and push the rest of the batters up the order, which would require Joe Root to return to the No.3 berth that has previously preferred not to fill. Harry Brook could also be considered for the role.