Jaques on road to recovery

Phil Jaques exercises his back before returning home early from the tour of India

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Australia opener Phil Jaques is hoping to be back at the crease next month after recent surgery to remove a bulging disc in his back.

The 29-year-old has been troubled by a chronic back complaint for the last three seasons and in October had to cut short his stay on the tour of India, ruling him out of the Test series against New Zealand.

Following the operation, Jaques has endured five hours of rehabilitation work every day in recent weeks, and now his sights are set on a return for Sydney club side Sutherland on January 17.

“I'm feeling really strong, the back is feeling great. I'm pain-free now so I think the surgery was definitely worth my while,” Jaques said.

“It was something that was unavoidable at the time and it's just good to be starting to feel a bit normal again.”

Jaques knows he must get runs for New South Wales on his return in a bid to get back into the Australia squad for the three-Test series against the Proteas in South Africa beginning on February 26.

While the timing of his lay-off could not have been worse, the left-hander remains upbeat about his future prospects.

“What I'm focusing on is just getting myself strong now and just getting back into the swing of cricket and enjoying my cricket again,” he continued.

“Playing with injury for quite a while - a bit of a chronic injury - it does wear you down and I've had a good freshen up mentally from that and the body's feeling great now so I can’t wait to get back in to it.”

Jaques' road back to the Australia team will not be easy following the recent resurgence of Blues team-mate Simon Katich, who has piled on the runs at the top of the order since making his return to the Test arena.

“I'm really happy for Simon, he's made a really good fist of Test cricket and he's a really good friend of mine,” Jaques said.

“While it's disappointing to not be playing, it's good to see him doing well.”