Pattinson to miss Ashes after taking indefinite break from cricket

Sydney, October 4: Australia will be without paceman James Pattinson for the upcoming Ashes series against rivals England due to a back injury.

Pattinson was ruled out of the five-Test showdown on Wednesday (October 3) after re-aggravating a lower back stress fracture, which forced the Australian bowler to miss the tour of Bangladesh.

The 27-year-old – whose 17-Test career has been plagued by injuries – will now take an indefinite break from cricket, having not played since July 1, though he was a member of Australia's Champions Trophy campaign.

"Obviously I am extremely disappointed with this setback after just getting back into a good run of playing cricket," Pattinson said in a statement via Cricket Australia, with the first Ashes Test due to get underway in Brisbane on November 23.

"I'm especially disappointed to miss out on the possibility to play in a home Ashes Series. "Over the next few weeks I will discuss all available options available to me with medical staff, to work out the best plan to prevent this from happening again."

Sports science and sports medicine manager Alex Kountouris added: "Soon after returning from the UK, following the Champions Trophy and his county cricket contract, James presented with back pain.

"We made the decision to withdraw him from the Tour of Bangladesh and monitor his pain. He returned to bowling after a period of rest and unfortunately, he is still experiencing pain with bowling.

"During this time, we have been monitoring him, including regular scans and recent imaging has confirmed that James has begun to reaggravate his previous lower back stress fracture.

"As such, he has discontinued bowling as part of his recovery which unfortunately means that he will be unavailable for the beginning of the Sheffield Shield and subsequently Ashes campaign.

"Whilst this is very disappointing that James has reaggravated this old injury, we are confident that he can recover from this and return to playing.

"However, James' current injury is complex because his history of old stress fractures from his teenage years means there is one part of his spine that absorbs more force than it would normally do. This is the area the of current re-aggravation but we are hopeful that we can put strategies in place to help manage this when James returns to playing."

Source: OPTA