Australia paceman James Pattinson will ramp up his Ashes preparations when he returns from injury in England's County Championship next week.

Pattinson has been battling a minor side strain in recent weeks and hasn't been seen for Nottinghamshire since he took 1-55 during their one-wicket victory over Northamptonshire in England's domestic one-day cup on May 6.

The right-armer missed out on Nottinghamshire's one-day semi-final defeat at the hands of Somerset, before he was a notable absentee from four-day matches against Essex at Chelmsford and Hampshire in Newport.

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But Pattinson looks set to return to Nottinghamshire's line-up for their Division One clash against Warwickshire at Edgbaston next week and is scheduled to appear in a further two County Championship matches – against Hampshire (June 9-12) and Kent (June 17-20) – before meeting up with the Australia A squad near the end of this month.

Pattinson has battled a host of injuries throughout his career, but averages a tad over 26 with the ball from 17 Test appearances and displayed his enormous talent with a strong finish to the most recent JLT Sheffield Shield season.

The 29-year-old claimed 7-71 for the match in the Shield final to lead the Vics to their fourth title in five seasons and take his season tally up to 26 wickets at an average of 18.92.

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If Pattinson can stay fit at Nottinghamshire, he is likely to receive plenty of time to push his case for this year's Ashes series when Australia A play five one-day matches and a trio of four-day contests ahead of the first Test against England at the start of August.

Australia Test captain Tim Paine hasn't had the pleasure of having Pattinson in his team during his short tenure as skipper, but is hopeful that will change in England later this year.

"I'm not a religious man but I have said a few prayers when I've gone to bed at night the last couple of months to make sure he's fit," Paine said earlier this week.

"He can clearly add a lot to our Test match team.

"The England guys have seen him bowl in county cricket in the last couple of years and at times he's been quite devastating. I think that'll be in the back of their minds.

"At times during this Ashes series, if he's fully fit, he's going to be a real weapon."

Australia A tour of the UK

Australia A one-day squad: Travis Head (c), Matthew Wade, Will Pucovski, Peter Handscomb, Ashton Turner, Mitch Marsh (vc), D'Arcy Short, Kurtis Patterson, Ashton Agar, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Josh Hazlewood (vc), Sean Abbott

Australia A four-day squad: Tim Paine (c), Marcus Harris, Kurtis Patterson, Will Pucovski, Travis Head (vc), Peter Handscomb, Matthew Wade, Mitch Marsh, Michael Neser, Jon Holland, James Pattinson, Jackson Bird, Josh Hazlewood (vc), Chris Tremain

One-day fixtures:

June 20: Australia A v Northamptonshire, The County Ground, Northamptonshire

June 23: Australia A v Derbyshire, County Ground, Derby

June 25: Australia A v Worcestershire, New Road, Worcester

June 30: Australia A v Gloucestershire, Bristol Country Ground, Bristol

July 2: Australia A v Gloucestershire, Bristol Country Ground, Bristol

Four-day fixtures:

July 7-10: Australia A v Sussex, Arundel Castle Cricket Ground, Arundel

July 13-16: Australia A v England Lions, The Spitfire Ground, Canterbury

July 23-26: Australia v Australia A, Ageas Bowl, Hampshire