IF all continues to go well for Graham Onions in his recovery from back surgery, he could return ahead of schedule for Durham next season.

When the 28-year-old paceman had his operation late last summer it was stated that he would be out of cricket for up to nine months, giving him a likely return date of June.

But Durham plan to take him on their eight-day preseason trip to Dubai.

“He is due to have a scan in mid-February and if that’s all clear he will start to do some bowling shortly afterwards,”

said coach Geoff Cook.

“He’s really bullish and can’t keep out of the gym. We go to Dubai on March 25 and he potentially has four weeks of bowling indoors before that.

“It will depend on his general fitness, but if he could bowl in Dubai that would be fantastic.”

Durham will play in a Twenty20 tournament under the banner of their main sponsors, Emirates, in Dubai and will also have three days of practice against Sussex.

Steve Harmison, who missed the end of last season with a tear below the ankle, is reported to be ready to join in full squad training when it resumes on January 31. Everyone will be present barring Paul Collingwood, England Lions Liam Plunkett and Ben Stokes, Michael Di Venuto, Mitch Claydon and Scott Borthwick, who is spending the winter in Adelaide with the ECB academy.

Onions is determined to get back into the England team after becoming the forgotten man while Steve Finn, Chris Tremlett and Tim Bresnan have moved ahead of him in this winter’s Ashes series.

“It’s fantastic to see the way the boys have dominated the Ashes series this winter, but it’s also been massively frustrating,”

he said. “I was devastated to miss the tour and my determination to play for England again is spurring me on. I think about that first ball I’m going to bowl every day.”

It is the second time since suffering his injury that Onions has endured a long wait to find out whether he can bowl without pain.

He first experienced discomfort in the nets on England’s tour of Bangladesh last winter and left the tour without playing a game.

After various treatments it was hoped that rest would allow his stress fractures to settle down. The plan was to be back in action by September with a view to proving his fitness for the Ashes.

When he did finally bowl again, however, the pain was still there and the ECB’s chief medical officer, Dr Nick Peirce, said: “We have thoroughly exhausted all avenues of conservative treatment and rehabilitation with surgery very much seen as a last resort. Unfortunately, Graham has not responded and we have no option left but to undertake a relatively significant operation. His rehabilitation will see him ruled out of all cricket for up to nine months and will be overseen and carried out by the ECB medical team in conjunction with the medical staff at Durham.”

The six-hour operation included the insertion of a titanium pin in his spine and he has admitted that for the next six weeks he needed the assistance of his fiancee, Emma, to get out of bed at their Gateshead home.

Now he says: “There’s no reason it can’t be even stronger than before I was injured.”