Shattered pace weapon James Pattinson says his body wasn't up to handling back-to-back bowling efforts, following Australia's first innings batting collapse at Lord's.
Pattinson is holding onto hope that his temperamental body will one day mature as he struggles to process yet another injury layoff.
The 23-year-old was ruled out for the rest of the Ashes tour with stress fractures in his back, but said the injury could have been worse, and he's aiming to be fit for the start of the Sheffield Shield season.
Team high performance manager Pat Howard said selectors were happy with the five quicks that are with the squad and there are no plans to add a replacement bowler unless more injuries occur.
Injury-prone veteran Ryan Harris has pulled up fine from the second Test according to Howard.
An emotional Pattinson bravely fronted the media on Tuesday and said he was "stuffed" by day three at Lord's, after Australia's faltering batsmen were rolled for 128 and gave bowlers just 54 overs recovery time.
"When you go out doing what you do it's hard on the body and in an ideal world you'd like a bit more rest than that," Pattinson said.
"It's far from ideal. You go out there and put your body on the line and you're playing for your country.
"Once I get a bit more mature, I've said it 1000 times before but I'm still hoping one day my body is going to mature and I'll be able to do that back up not just for two Tests but five."
Pattinson suffered stress fractures as a teenager and last summer was ruled out with side strains.
The Victorian said he wasn't looking forward to more lonely recovery sessions in the MCG gym, but would take heart from the likes of James Anderson, Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee - who all fought back from setbacks early in their career to dominate world cricket.
"It's pretty shattering, it's a hard road," he said.
"I've been told there's proof there's blokes who have played before me ... Lee, McGrath who have setbacks before 23 ... I live in hope that that's the way it goes. I'm a pretty positive type of guy so hopefully I can bounce back."
Pattinson joked that captain Michael Clarke told him he could bat at No.3 at Old Trafford if he played - given the tail ender has topped the batting averages so far for the series.
He will stay on with the squad until the end of the third Test at Manchester.
"It's a long journey to get to where we are and to go home is a bit of a kick in the arse," he said.
"So I'm going to stick around."
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