Back surgery shatters Onions's Ashes dream

England pacer Graham Onions’s Ashes dream gets shattered as he faces a back injury that will rule him out of cricket for nine months.

Though shattered to be ruled out from the Ashes, Graham Onions is determined to come back strong after his back surgery. © Getty Images

"The surgery Graham faces is a relatively significant operation and his rehabilitation will see him ruled out of all cricket for approximately up to nine months," ECB chief medical officer, Nick Peirce said in a statement.

Onions tried hard to push his case for being the Australia-bound England team in November with an extensive treatment to cure his back stress-fracture but after all the efforts, surgery seems the only option for him.

"Obviously I'm shattered to have been ruled out of the Ashes with the prospect of a lengthy recovery period," said Onions, who will have surgery on Monday.

"After experiencing the euphoria of being part of an Ashes winning England team last year I was determined to get myself fit for selection ahead of this winter's tour of Australia," he said.

Onions who played his last international game in January sustained the injury during a practice session ahead of the two-Test series against Bangladesh in March.

"While I'm devastated to be facing such a long lay-off from cricket I'm determined to overcome this setback and make sure I get back bowling again next year and work my way back into England calculations."

"It's been a difficult period for me but I realise that I have to have this operation if I want to play cricket again," Onions said.