The immediate playing future of Canberra fast bowler Jason Behrendorff is up in the air, ruling him out of a dream Test debut.
Behrendorff would have come into consideration to replace the injured Mitchell Starc in the Australian Test team for the series against the West Indies.
But national selector Rod Marsh said the information he had received from Western Australia was that Behrendorff would be unavailable for at least the next month and maybe longer.
Behrendorff has a wonderful first-class record for WA, but was sidelined for five months at the end of last season with stress fractures in his back.
"Unfortunately [Jason] Behrendorff I believe is out for I think it's a month now," Marsh said.
"They [Western Australia] are not even sure whether he'll be out for the rest of the season, not sure whether it's a back problem or whether his stress fractures have opened, or I don't know what.
"There is something wrong with him that's keeping him out."
Behrendorff has missed the past two Sheffield Shield games with soreness and will sit out their next match against Tasmania at the WACA Ground, starting on Saturday.
His last four-day match was against South Australia from November 6-9 when he took 4-55 and 1-84 from 42.2 overs.
If he was fit, Behrendorff would have been a strong chance to be called into the Test squad.
His first-class record of 86 wickets at an average of 25.22 is superior to WA teammate Nathan Coulter-Nile (119 wickets at 28.97), who was called into the squad, and Victoria's Scott Boland (71 wickets at 30.14), who is on stand-by.
Behrendorff has previously played for Australia A and made his second straight appearance for the Prime Minister's XI in October.
He would be the only left-arm bowler in the attack with Starc set to miss the next four months and Mitchell Johnson having retired.
