JOSH Bohannon is refusing to give up hope of breaking into Lancashire’s 50-over team next month as he recovers from a side injury suffered while playing grade cricket in Sydney.

The former Farnworth Social Circle all-rounder picked up the injury while bowling in his final game for the Randwick Petersham club.

“I’ve never felt pain like it. I threw up on the pitch, it was that bad,” said the 21-year-old Boltonian. “I did it in my last game in Sydney, on March 3.

“In my penultimate game, I got a hundred and took six wickets. We bowled first on a green top, and I was thinking ‘This is Christmas’ because I knew I’d get something out of conditions. I had four slips and a gully and took 6-30. Then I got 100 not out.

So I came back to bowl the following week and wanted to try and match or better what I’d done. I didn’t try and bowl any different, though. In my third or fourth over, it just went. I managed to just about stay in the slips for the rest of the day.

“When the game finished, I phoned Sam Byrne, our physio at Lancs, and flew home on the Monday. It wasn’t a nice flight!

“I was told the recovery would be 12 weeks at most, and it’s been seven this week. In another two or three, I should be all right.

“It’s been pretty frustrating. I came back and was supposed to go to Dubai on pre-season tour, but I missed that. It’s been a tough one to deal with because I’d started scoring big runs and felt in good nick.”

Last season, Bohannon scored 783 runs and took 12 wickets from 25 matches across all formats for Lancashire’s second-team, helping them win the three-day Championship title. But he is yet to debut in the first team.

That, he is hoping, will come this summer, even if he may have to be patient.

“It sets me back a little bit, especially in white-ball cricket because I felt I had a real chance to play in 50-over cricket, possibly even Twenty20 too,” he added.

“Now I’ve got to get fit and then get into some form, which may take a couple of weeks before I get a score together. But I’ll be doing everything I can over the next month to get into that side.”

Lancashire’s Royal London one-day Cup campaign starts on May 17.