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| July 17, 2006 | Monday | Jumadi-ul-Sani 20, 1427 |
Jones’s Ashes fate hangs in balance
LONDON, July 16: England fast bowler Simon Jones is due to find out later this month if he will be fit for the Ashes tour of Australia.
The 27-year-old reverse swing specialist was one of the stars of last year's 2-1 series win at home to Australia.
But a left knee injury is threatening his chances of being fit for the return encounter later this year with the first Ashes Test getting underway in Brisbane in November.
However Jones, the son of ex-England quick Jeff, has undergone keyhole surgery and the Glamorgan paceman is having two sessions a day in an oxygen tent in a bid to speed his recovery.
The Welshman is set to meet with doctors at the end of July and that could be the moment when he finds out if he has a chance of making the Ashes trip.
“Simon is doing well and feels he's on schedule to be fit. But we have to be cautious and see what the surgeon says,” Glamorgan physio Chris Towers told the Sunday Mirror.
“We have a check-up in a couple of weeks to see how he's progressing. Fingers crossed, there won't be any setbacks.”
Jones is not alone among England's Ashes-winning bowlers in currently being sidelined from Test action with Andrew Flintoff (ankle) and Ashley Giles (hip) also missing from the side involved in the ongoing first Test against Pakistan at Lord's.
But Jones has struggled with injuries throughout his career having been sidelined for several months after sustaining cruciate knee ligament damage while fielding in Brisbane during the first Test of the 2002-03 Ashes series.
However, he returned to take 18 wickets in last year's Ashes.
But Jones missed September's final Test against Australia, because of a bone spur in his ankle, and the subsequent tour of Pakistan, after he had it surgically removed.
He was on course for a return to international cricket in India before he suffered a fresh setback when he collapsed in the nets on the eve of the first Test.—AFP
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