Through the Worcester game I started feeling a slight pain in my lower abdomen and around the bottom of the ribcage.

I pretty much put it down to wear and tear as a fast-bowler and the tougher ask of playing four-day cricket after limited-overs games.

As I kept bowling the pain gradually increased but at the end of the game it didn't even concern me as an injury – it felt like run-of-the-mill post-match stiffness.

It was only after icing and the bus trip to Cardiff did I realise I was in a bit of trouble.

It's nothing that won't heal with just time, the negative thing is that it's come at a bad time.

My time out is looking to be about two weeks – it could even be three – no one is quite sure yet.

At this stage I'm definitely out of the first Test and iffy for the second at Lord’s starting on July 16.

The problem will be looked at day-to-day.

The positive I'm taking out of this is that I bowled two days flat out and my ankle felt 100 per cent alright. There was no pain whatsoever.If it was my ankle that had come up sore I'd be pretty stressed because once my ankle goes I can forget about bowling with pace.

These little niggles come and go – I've been fortunate enough to have just two torn muscles in sixteen years of cricket, so I can't be angry at my body – and our physio Alex Kontouris has said he's willing to reassess the injury in a week.

I didn't have anything to prove to myself but I was happy to be able to show everyone else that I am still capable of bowling consistently close to 100mph.

It's hard to say how this will affect the make-up of our sides for the first Tests.

It's still too early to call as there is the weather still to consider.

It obviously brings different bowling combinations into contention with me missing out but no matter what Australia is still a very strong side.

My training with the Duke ball really paid off as the ball was coming out well for me against the England Lions.

It all started to happen for me when the Lions were 0-172 but I had still put a lot of work in with the new ball.

I may not have wickets but I was very happy with how I bowled with new ball - as happy as I was with the old.

I was quoted as saying the other day 'I haven't trained 25 weeks just to sit on the sidelines' and I will stick by that.

This is all very frustrating but I still believe I have a big role to play in this Ashes series.

The hard work is starting again for me and I’ve got to make sure I'm ready to go when I'm needed.

Courtesy: Yahoo!7 Cricket