Scans show Victorian quick picked up grade one injury in Alice but hopes high for quick return
Pattinson hamstring strain confirmed
James Pattinson has suffered a minor setback in his push for a Test recall with scans revealing he suffered a grade one hamstring strain playing for Victoria in Alice Springs last week.
The injury has ruled the 24-year-old out of Victoria's Bupa Sheffield Shield match in Adelaide this week, a match he was likely to miss anyway as Cricket Australia and the Commonwealth Bank Bushrangers carefully manage his workload in his return from a back injury.
Victoria hope Pattinson will be fit for their final Shield match of the regular season, which begins on March 13.
The game in Alice Springs was Pattinson's second at first-class level since the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town 12 months ago, which Australia won to briefly return to the top of the world Test rankings.
The right-armer had taken four of the 10 wickets to fall in his Shield return in Brisbane last month and finished with match figures of 4-54 against the Bulls last week.
He had left the field with left hamstring soreness on the final day of that match and an MRI scan has confirmed a minor strain.
Bushrangers physiotherapist Nick Adcock said the injury was unrelated to the back problems that have restricted Pattinson to just three first-class matches in almost 20 months.
"It's an unrelated minor incident," Adcock told Fairfax.
"The good thing is his back has held up, so that's probably a positive.
"He's actually feeling fine, and even when he felt that spasm in his hamstring he said his body felt fantastic."
The hamstring injury is a minor setback in what had been a positive comeback for Pattinson after he underwent a rehabilitation and remodelling program in the off-season.
Having made changes to his bowling action to reduce stress on his back, Pattinson made an encouraging return to domestic cricket with some fiery spells for the Melbourne Renegades in the KFC T20 Big Bash League.
He had also bowled with plenty of pace when used as a net bowler in the lead-up to the first two matches of the Commonwealth Bank Test series against India in December.