Pattinson hit by hamstring injury

There is a chance the fast bowler James Pattinson will not play again this season after picking up a hamstring injury during Victoria's Sheffield Shield match against Queensland in Alice Springs.

Pattinson felt discomfort in his left hamstring during the third and final day of Victoria's innings-and-14-run victory where he bowled just eight overs in the second innings following figures of 3 for 34 from 17 in the first.

He was due to be rested for Victoria's next four-day match against South Australia but is now unlikely to feature in the final round-robin fixture against Tasmania in Alice Springs which starts on March 13.

That would leave Pattinson with only a potential Shield final - Victoria are currently second in the table - as the chance for a first-class outing before Australia pick their squad for the tour of West Indies.

"I think the best-case scenario would be the shield final, given the AFL [player] average is about 17 days for a grade one," the Bushrangers physiotherapist Nick Adcock told the Age.

However, Adcock was confident Pattinson's latest injury had no connection to the back problems which have plagued Pattinson's career. "It's an unrelated minor incident. The good thing is his back has held up, so that's probably a positive," he said. "He's actually feeling fine, and even when he felt that spasm in his hamstring he said his body felt fantastic."

Pattinson has not played for Australia since the final Test against Australia, in Cape Town, last March - which was his first first-class outing since the Lord's Test in July 2013 - and he only made his latest red-ball comeback in February following the Big Bash.