ENGLAND must plan for the Ashes this winter without Simon Jones, who will be out of action for at least five months after a knee operation performed in the United States by Dr Richard Steadman, the world-renowned specialist.

Jones will be 31 when England tour Australia in 2010-11 and may be destined to play no more than a single session of Test cricket there, having been lost to the game for a year after his freak cruciate ligament tear, diving on a sandy outfield at Brisbane in 2002.

This week’s operation to his other knee, his left, was keyhole surgery. The careful rehabilitation now required means, however, that his cricket since last August will have been limited to three matches for Glamorgan at the start of this season. There are whispers around dressing-rooms that the cricketer whose 90mph reverse and conventional swing bowling did more than anything to tip the scales in England’s favour last summer — 18 wickets at 21 runs each in four matches — will never be able to bowl fast again.

Put more brutally, that would mean the end of his career. His father, Jeff, also of Glamorgan and England, had to give up early because of an elbow injury and the fear is that Simon will also prove to have been a brief phenomenon, the victim of an explosive body action like Frank Tyson, another shooting star in the long story of the Ashes. There was a message of hope last night, however, from Ronnie Irani, the Essex captain and former England all-rounder, who was told that he was finished until he consulted Steadman at his base in Vail, the skiing centre in Colorado.

“He’s the best in the world and he will be for a hundred years because he specialises in knees and shoulders and knows everything there is to know about them,” Irani said. “He saved my career and if anyone can sort Simon out, he can. He gave Darren Gough the right advice, too, when everyone was writing Goughie off.

“In Darren’s case he didn’t operate but told him he could bowl again if he built up the muscles around his damaged knee. In mine he performed a lateral release and trimmed my damaged cartilage area. My rehab took six months, including visits to the German specialist, Hans Muller-Wohlfahrt.

“They work superbly together as a pair for anyone with serious knee problems and I can’t understand why Michael Vaughan has not consulted them, too. The trouble is that people only tend to go to them as a last resort rather than a first post.

“It’s a good sign for Simon that he has operated and given him a specific plan for rehabilitation. I remember talking to the England footballer, Jamie Redknapp, a few years ago before he retired when he was at a crossroads. Richard Steadman put him right and he played on for several seasons after his operation. But he also advised him that there was nothing more he could do when the time came for him to retire.”

Yesterday’s ECB statement said: “The rehabilitation from Simon’s surgery must be taken slowly to give the best chance of a good result. At this stage, we do not expect him to be bowling for at least five months, which makes his participation in the Ashes extremely unlikely.”

This was the second operation on Jones’s left knee this year after the one to correct cartilage damage suffered in the nets in India in February. An ankle operation prevented him from touring Pakistan before Christmas after his breakdown during the Test at Trent Bridge last August.

The selectors must discount Jones for the Ashes series and can use the Test series against Pakistan, starting on July 13, to sort out alternatives. Sajid Mahmood looks the most likely bowler of the same type but James Anderson, still in a corset after discovering that he had a stress fracture when he returned home from India, should be back in the mix before the end of the season.

With Stephen Harmison about to return, Liam Plunkett developing well and Jon Lewis in reserve for Matthew Hoggard, England should still have a stronger hand of fast bowlers than Australia come November.

A TALE OF WOE

JULY 2002: Makes Test debut at Lord’s against India, takes four wickets and makes 44 runs, but suffers side strain and misses rest of series

NOVEMBER: In the opening day of the Ashes series in Brisbane ruptures cruciate ligament in right knee

MAY 2004: Plays first Test against New Zealand before stress fracture of left foot keeps him out of two Tests

JUNE 2005: Misses one-day series with sore right knee

JULY/AUGUST: Takes 18 wickets in four Ashes Tests before injury to right ankle keeps him out of final Test and winter series in Pakistan

FEBRUARY 28, 2006: Twists left knee in nets before first Test in India. Leaves tour

MAY 1: Limps off field with injury to left knee while playing for Glamorgan

PATRICK KIDD