Nottinghamshire bowler Ryan Sidebottom is a major doubt for England’s Test series against India after scans revealed a new muscle tear in his back.

Sidebottom has been plagued by injuries since August, suffering from a combination of calf, Achilles and back problems.

"Ryan is training very hard and, because of the benefits of that, he could come back stronger than ever before,” said England Coach Peter Moores.

"It's been really tough for him. He is desperate to play. His body is saying, at the moment, that it doesn't want to play cricket.

"Fast bowlers go through bad times. Andrew Flintoff had several operations and has come back.

"We also know it is tough playing international cricket and the schedule we have to go through, and they have to get used to that.”

Tim Bresnan, Sajid Mahmood and Liam Plunkett are in India as part of the England Performance Squad and could now push for places in the Test side.