Wiaan Mulder will miss Essex's County Championship fixture against Warwickshire this week after returning home to South Africa for undisclosed personal reasons.
Mulder, the seam-bowling allrounder, was due to play six Championship matches and six T20 Blast fixtures for Essex after joining on a three-month contract. He has featured in both of their first two matches - a win over Hampshire and a defeat to Somerset - but will miss Friday's fixture at Edgbaston.
"Essex Cricket can confirm that Wiaan Mulder has returned home temporarily for personal reasons," the club said in a statement on Wednesday.
"The club is fully supportive of Wiaan's decision to return home to South Africa and an update on his return to the club will be announced in due course. Wiaan will therefore miss the next round of the Rothesay County Championship against Warwickshire at Edgbaston."
Essex are due to play Surrey at The Oval on April 24 before a week off leading into their home fixture against Hampshire on May 8.
Mulder scored 17 and took one wicket in Essex's win at Hampshire before scores of 0 and 31 in their defeat at home to Somerset, in which he was limited to seven wicketless overs due to a back spasm.
Essex are without Jordan Cox for the first two months of the season due to his involvement in the IPL, where he is yet to feature for Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Club captain Tom Westley was also unavailable to face Somerset after a finger injury in their opening game led to Noah Thain replacing him as the first substitution under the ECB's trial regulation.
