Perth – Stuart Broad will not bowl again in the third Ashes Test after injuring his right foot on Sunday but he said he might bat in England's second innings and had not given up hope of rescuing the match.
The 27-year-old paceman also hopes that “ice and elevation” over the next 10 days will enable him to play in the fourth test, which starts in Melbourne on December 26.
Australia might well have secured the return of the Ashes by then, having taken a 369-run lead on Sunday with two full days to bolster their advantage and bowl England out for a 3-0 series lead.
Broad suffered the injury when he was dismissed lbw by a full Mitchell Johnson delivery that struck him on the right boot during an England collapse that all but ended their chance of winning the match.
“It immediately hurt,” Broad told reporters. “So I came into the changing room and got some ice on it.
“Obviously, I was desperate to get out there and bowl so I had to try it out in the nets. Normally with a bruise you get a bit of blood but when you get going the pain decreases. It actually increased quite a bit in the nets.
“I wanted to go out and have a spell, but the doctor said I had to go for an x-ray.
“Something showed up on the x-ray but it was a bit inconclusive so had to have an MRI. We're just waiting on those results back from England now.
“I'm desperate to play a part in the rest of the Ashes series. I won't be bowling tomorrow, but there's a bit of a break in between this test and the next and I'm desperate to be there.”
England's best bowler in the ongoing series with 14 wickets at an average of 25 runs apiece, Broad missed the last three matches of the 2010-11 Ashes series in Australia through injury.
“As a fast bowler injuries are part and parcel of it (but) it's a bit more frustrating when you get hurt batting,” he added.
“At the end of the day even if there's a small crack there and my symptoms are not painful, there's no reason why I can't continue to play.
“I've got 10 days until Boxing Day. Even if there is a crack, I see no reason I can't get myself back in the frame.”
Broad, who came into the news conference on crutches wearing a protective boot, said whether he batted or not in England's second innings would be dependent on the match situation.
“It will depend how many overs left and how many runs we've made,” he said.
“Hopefully the decision will be made not tomorrow but the next day.”
Broad said his team mates had not yet given up on saving the match.
“No, no, that's certainly not the way we think,” he added. “We've had numerous tests over the past four years that we've managed to save when we've had no right to save them.
“There's a lot of belief in that changing room, we're certainly due a score.” – Reuters