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Shane Watson could be out of international cricket for up to six months after being diagnosed with stress fractures in his back. Watson’s problem has continued the injury crisis for Australia, with Brett Lee set to have foot surgery this week and Andrew Symonds carrying a knee complaint.

Watson is the 12th man at the MCG and he was expected to be in strong contention for the third Test in Sydney to boost Australia’s ailing line-up. However, he said he had been playing with a sore back for the past three weeks and regaining full fitness for the Ashes tour is now his primary goal.

“Unfortunately I got diagnosed yesterday with stress fractures in my back,” Watson said on the ABC. “It’s been over the last month my workload, especially during the Sheffield Shield games I played for Queensland, really spiked.

“My back has been sore for the last three weeks. I knew something wasn’t exactly right when bowling in the nets and my back was really sore. Unfortunately it’s part and parcel of what I’m trying to do, building up my workload and bowling overs that I wanted to but unfortunately I just went over the edge a little bit too much.”

The revelation that the injury-prone Watson carried the problem into the Test series has raised questions of Australia’s selectors, who had already been criticised for allowing Symonds to play when he was not fully fit. Watson’s best-case scenario would be to return to batting within the next month, although he is unlikely to be able to bowl for at least four months.

“I’m going to have probably four to six weeks rest just to let the fracture heal then start batting, play as a batsman for Queensland, depending on what other games are coming up,” Watson said. “Then just build up my bowling again and get things right and hopefully learn from this and hopefully not go to the edge next time and be able to keep bowling for a long period of time.

“[The Ashes is] probably our best point in time from what I’ve been told already. That’s definitely my goal to be able to make sure I’m up and firing before the Ashes so that’s my goal as an allrounder.”

Source:Cricket News

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