James Pattinson could feature in Boxing Day Test

Australia fast bowler James Pattinson has hinted that he could be available for the Boxing Day Ashes Test in Melbourne.

The 23-year-old will miss the first Test in Brisbane, which begins this Thursday, with a back injury.

"I've started back bowling and I'm off about half a run-up and bowling about 70 percent now," Pattinson told Cricket Australia's official website.

"Once I start back bowling it comes along pretty quickly and I'll hopefully be right maybe in a month's time.

"Obviously it was frustrating but I'm still young and hopefully I can just use this time to get bigger and stronger and make sure things like this doesn't happen again."

Pattinson has taken 47 Test wickets in 21 innings.