Cricket: Test captain Tim Paine has a six-week recovery after surgeons cut a hole in his throat

Surgeons had to move Test captain Tim Paine’s voice box to one side in a seriously invasive surgery that will leave the skipper recovering for six weeks.

Tim Paine expects to be right for the Ashes after invasive surgery. Picture: Patrick Hamilton / AFP

Test captain Tim Paine believes he could be ready for cricket in seven weeks and be ready for the Ashes after successful surgery on a bulging disc this week left him feeling “pretty sore”.

Surgeons cut a hole in his throat to fix a bulging disc high up his spine, close to his neck, which had been leaving him with severe pain down his left side.

But Paine chatted to former NRL and Wallabies star Matt Rogers and recently retired Melbourne AFL captain Nathan Jones, who both had similar surgeries.

Rogers was back playing in the NRL within six weeks, a timeline that gave Paine confidence he would be ready for the first Ashes Test scheduled to begin on December 8.

“Matt Rogers played an NRL game in six weeks. Nathan Jones had it done after his last round game and started training fully day one of pre-season,” Paine said on Friday morning.

“The precedent has been set, guys have got back from it reasonably quickly. We’ve been talking to all those players, their physios, their surgeons to track their rehab plans and get me back as quick as we can.

“As soon as this six-week block is over I’ll be good to go. I’m pretty confident outside of that six weeks I’ll be ready to go within a week. That gives me plenty of time (for the Ashes). I won’t be as fit or as strong as I’d like to be. If I am moving freely, I’ll give a good fist of it.

“I‘ll hopefully get a Shield game in for Tassie before then and hopefully be on the winning end of a third winning Ashes would be something really special.“

Tim Paine had pain down his left side before surgery. Picture: Steve Bell/Getty Images

Paine, 36, said his surgeon told him it was the right call to have the surgery, not just to be fit for the Ashes but for his long-term health

“I had the bulging disc pressing on my spine, I was shaving some pain down the left side of my body,” he told SEN.

“It was that touch-and-go stage, where I don’t get it done and take the risk I’ll be right for the Ashes or get it done now and make sure I am.

“I’m pretty happy with the decision. After the surgeon had a look in there, he said it was a good decision to get it done.”

Paine said surgeons “cut a big hole in my throat” before replacing the C6 and C7 discs high up in the neck.

“They move my voice box to the side and go in that way. It’s less invasive, safer,” he said.

“They put the new disc in, stitched them up and away we go. I feel like my range is already better and I just have to not make sure the cut heals and give the disc time to take to my spine over the next month or so, then get moving.

“The most important thing in the first two week is the healing itself. I need it to take with the bone that is there.

“It’s a slow process, I’ll be walking over the next couple of weeks, doing a lot of little neck physio movements. It’s a see how we go from there.

“I know I will be dealing with physios for the next six weeks before I start my cricket rehab.”

The Test captain said he didn’t want to risk a “flare up” of the injury, which could have impacted his Ashes presence.

“With it pushing hard on the nerves, you can damage the nerves so I didn‘t want to have any long-term issues with my left arm in particular,” he said.

“I want to be playing in the Ashes and playing well, so I didn‘t want it to sort of come good in a month and then be keep continually flaring up during the Ashes.

“If it came back as bad as it has been at times, there‘s no way I would have been able to play if it was the morning of a Test match so I didn’t want to take that risk.

“I want to keep playing for Tasmania after my international career. To have it fixed and out of the way was the correct decision long term.”