Australian fast bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile has been ruled out of the upcoming Ashes series due to the recurrence of a nagging back injury.
"Nathan Coulter-Nile has been sidelined with an "aggravation" of a previous stress fracture that curtails his Ashes dreams but could see him return to cricket at the back end of the summer," Cricket Australia announced on Friday.
Coulter-Nile played his first Sheffield Shield match in more than two years earlier this year before being rested for the second round of matches.
The right-armer captained Western Australia XI against the English in a two-day tour match on November 4-5, but complained of back pain afterwards.
"Nathan experienced some pain in his back following the two-day tour match against England last week. Subsequent scans have revealed an early stage aggravation of his old stress fracture," Cricket Australia Sports Science and Sports Medicine Manager Alex Kountouris said.
"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," he added.
Coulter-Nile's injury leaves the Australian pace attack comprising Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins without any significant back-up during the five-Test Ashes series against England which starts on November 23.
