Win Projections to be updated soon
Australian fast bowler James Pattinson has ruled himself out of the Ashes series due to the lower back stress fracture. On the tour to Bangladesh last month, he had suffered the injury and was replaced by Jackson Bird. The pacer has opted to take an indefinite break from the game.
Australia’s worries for the all-important Ashes have increased big time as Pattinson was an integral part of the scheme of things. His career has been heavily marred by injuries and he hasn’t been able to contribute to his full capabilities to the country. He expressed his disappointment of missing on the Ashes.
“Obviously I am extremely disappointed with this setback after just getting back into a good run of playing cricket. 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,” James Pattinson said.
Alex Kountouris, Australia’s Sports Science and Sports Medicine Manager, said it’s a recurrence of his previous injury. “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,” he added.
“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’s 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 reaggravation but we are hopeful that we can put strategies in place to help manage this when James returns to playing,” he concluded.
