That was the shock news casting a shadow over Lancashire's first Championship win of the season at Chelmsford yesterday.
Wasim was forced out of the Championship match on Saturday afternoon when he suffered a shoulder injury while bowling.
That was so worrying for Lancashire after their Pakistani captain missed almost the whole of last season with a shoulder problem.
Coach Dav Whatmore admitted: ``We feared the worst at first. But this is a different type of injury, a muscle spasm in his left shoulder, which is actually quite similar to the problems Mike Watkinson had last season.''
Not much relief there, as Watkinson also had his 1997 summer wrecked by that shoulder problem. But Whatmore added: ``This is nothing like as serious.''
Still, there was no question of him playing today, although Lancashire were boosted by the return of Ian Austin and Peter Martin, who missed the Championship game with minor injuries.
John Crawley took over as skipper, after leading Lancashire to their seven wicket Championship victory just a few miles away from his birthplace, Maldon. Crawley ended with 64 and it was fitting that Glen Chapple was there at the death with him in an unbroken fourth wicket stand of 69. Chapple was probably Lancashire's man of the match after following his five wicket first innings performance with 3-59 in the Essex second innings on Saturday.
Mike Watkinson then whipped through the tail to claim 5-45, leaving Lancashire with a modest victory target of 175.
They claim 23 points, which will lift the pressure in the Championship after two draws and a defeat in their previous three games had revived memories of last season, when Lancashire did not win for their first seven matches.
``Winning so early in the season was vitally important,'' said Crawley. ``And we have achieved it without playing well. That's the encouraging thing. Everyone is so confident now that we can still get much better.
``Last season we weren't looking forward to the next game, but now we can't wait and hopefully we can build up a momentum that will see us at the top.''