Nathan Coulter-Nile “will have further scans over the next month which will determine when he can return to bowling”

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Australia pace bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile is unlikely to play any part in the upcoming Ashes series after aggravating an old stress fracture in his back.

Coulter-Nile suffered the injury while captaining a Western Australia XI in their warm-up match against England earlier this month.

The 30-year-old was expected to be in with a chance of making the cut for Australia’s Ashes squad, but that will no longer be the case as he will now take a “short break” from all cricketing activities.

“Nathan experienced some pain in his back following the two-day tour match against England last week,” Cricket Australia’s sports medicine manager Alex Kountouris was quoted as saying by Sky Sports. “Subsequent scans have revealed an early stage aggravation of his old stress fracture. Whilst this is a setback, the good news is that it has been picked up early so we are only considering a short break from bowling while we monitor him.

“We expect he will have further scans over the next month which will determine when he can return to bowling.”

Coulter-Nile’s injury is the latest blow for Australia as fast bowler James Pattinson was ruled out of the Ashes after suffering a similar injury. It is understood that Pattinson may have his spine surgically repaired in order to prolong his career.