Pattinson to undergo spinal surgery

James Pattinson is set to undergo spinal surgery in a last-ditch bid to fix a recurring stress fracture that threatens to end his Test career.

Pattinson, who will play no part in the Magellan Ashes and faces another long stint on the sidelines, is expected to be booked in for an operation soon.

Pattinson and Cricket Australia medicos are in discussions with a number of New Zealand specialists, including the guru who saved express paceman Shane Bond's career.

The procedure would involve a graft from the Victorian's hip being fused to the problematic vertebrae with screws and/or wire.

"Stabilise the area ... like having a cast on your foot," CA's sports science chief Alex Kountouris said.

"There's a few tests we have to do to see if he's a good candidate.

"There's a lot of people in Australia who do this surgery, it's reasonably common but none of them have done any fast bowlers that have come back to the elite level."

Pattinson, capable of clocking 150 km/h and terrorising the world's best batsmen in his prime, has played five Tests in the past four years.

The 27-year-old's previous four stress fractures have been in the same spot. Complicating the issue is his bowling technique but also four different stress fractures that haven't healed from his teenage years.

The serious injury is common among fast bowlers and is a major reason their workloads are managed so carefully. In the annual CA injury report released on Tuesday stress fractures ranked No.1 in terms of most games missed.

Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins have all been floored by stress fractures in the past but none of them went under the knife.

"It's always better to do things without surgery than with surgery because of the inherent risk of any operation," team doctor Richard Saw said.

"We have some surgical options with James because of the complexity of his case."

Australia's fit pacemen meanwhile are being primed to play all five Tests against England but medical staff won't make any promises.

Mitchell Starc has spent most of this year sidelined with a serious foot injury, while Josh Hazlewood made a low-key return from a side strain via grade cricket and is set to ramp up his comeback in the Sheffield Shield this weekend.

Pat Cummins is fit and firing but has a history riddled with serious setbacks, having spent almost six years in the Test wilderness after a dominant debut in 2011 at age 18.

"Our goal is to get them to the first Test and there's no set goal beyond that," Kountouris said.

"It's uncharted territory for him (Cummins) ... we want him to play all five, that's our goal.

"If the first game is over in three days it's easier (to back up) than if he bowls 60 overs in the first game and pulls up sore.

"We have to suck it and see."

Australia named an unchanged XI throughout their 5-0 thumping of England four years ago, with Ryan Harris playing every game despite his busted knee.

A number of early finishes and short English innings helped Harris' cause.

"We didn't expect Ryan Harris to play five Tests," Kountouris said.

"We didn't plan on him missing games but we also planned that he might not get through.

"Harris was going in with an injury.

"There's nothing wrong with him (Cummins), we just know that in this series if he plays all five Tests he'll double the number of matches in his Test career."

CA also believes it has found a breakthrough in the early detection of stress fractures.

"We might even see more of them being picked up but hopefully they're lasting six or eight weeks rather than 10 months," Kountouris said.

Tuesday's injury data revealed almost a quarter of domestic and international quicks were injured at any given time in the 2016-17 season.

There were 8.3 concussions per 100 players last summer. The rate has virtually doubled in the past three seasons since CA introduced a concussion policy, however Kountouris said this was likely a result of stricter reporting guidelines than an increase in head knocks.

"We don't think there's anymore people being hit in the head ... or more people having concussions," Kountouris said, suggesting better education, reporting and more systematic testing could be factors in the rise.

"Most of them are players who miss zero or one game, so they're quite mild."

2017-18 International Fixtures:

Magellan Ashes Series

First Test Gabba, November 23-27. Buy tickets

Second Test Adelaide Oval, December 2-6 (Day-Night). Buy tickets

Third Test WACA Ground, December 14-18. Buy tickets

Fourth Test MCG, December 26-30. Buy tickets

Fifth Test SCG, January 4-8 (Pink Test). Buy tickets

Gillette ODI Series v England

First ODI MCG, January 14. Buy tickets

Second ODI Gabba, January 19. Buy tickets

Third ODI SCG, January 21. Buy tickets

Fourth ODI Adelaide Oval, January 26. Buy tickets

Fifth ODI Perth TBC, January 28. Join the ACF

Prime Minister's XI

PM's XI v England Manuka Oval, February 2. Buy tickets

Gillette T20 INTL Series

First T20I Australia v NZ, SCG, February 3. Buy tickets

Second T20I – Australia v England, Blundstone Arena, February 7. Buy tickets

Third T20I – Australia v England, MCG, February 10. Buy tickets

Fourth T20I – NZ v England, Wellington, February 13

Fifth T20I – NZ v Australia, Eden Park, February 16

Sixth T20I – NZ v England, Seddon Park, February 18

Final – TBC, Eden Park, February 21