Australian fast bowler James Pattinson says his recovery from a back injury is progressing well and he is close to returning to full training.
The Victorian heads to Brisbane today to begin work at the AIS Centre of Excellence ahead of Australia's one-day tour of the British Isles beginning in late June.
Pattinson jarred his back in the second Test against the West Indies, but says he hopes to be back bowling at 100 per cent by the end of next week.
"I'm bowling about three times a week now at about 80 per cent intencity and building that up ... and hopefully (I'll have) three weeks of going 100 per cent in the nets before getting over to England," Pattinson said.
"I'm looking for a bit of match intensity (at the centre of excellence), so hopefully I can get out there in the middle.
"It'll mostly be white ball practice with the one-dayers coming up."
Pattinson is looking forward to resuming his fledgling partnership with fellow young gun Pat Cummins, who has also been named in the Australian squad to take on Ireland in a 50-over match and England in a series of one-dayers in June and July.
There is also an Australia A tour to follow in July and August, and Pattinson says he and Cummins will be looking to fine-tune their performances in English conditions, with a view to spearheading the Australian attack in next year's Ashes.
"It's an exciting time for Australian cricket at the moment with a lot of young guys coming through," he said.
"I don't think we've played in these conditions before so it'll be a great learning curve before the Ashes next year.
"Hopefully it gives us a bit of an edge over the Poms and we can go over to the Ashes with one up over them."
AAP
Tags: sport, cricket, brisbane-4000, qld, australia First posted May 22, 2012 07:30:55
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