Graham Onions remains upbeat over his chances of being fit for England's Ashes series in Australia this winter.

The Durham paceman has been sidelined since leaving the winter tour of Bangladesh with a back problem, his woes added to by a knee cartilage injury which required surgery.

But he told Sky Sports News: "My knee's coming on really well, I'm really happy with that and it's definitely going in the right direction.

"My back, because I've not had it operated on, it didn't feel too bad in the first place. It's absolutely fine, it feels good.

"I'm also in a resting period, I'm doing everything I can to still stay reasonably strong but also rest up as much as I possibly can."

Onions, who has taken 28 wickets at an average fractionally over 31 in his eight Tests to date, has been all but written off for the four-Test series against Pakistan which begins next month.

But he is targeting a return for the final month of the county season in a bid to prove his worth for the trip Down Under.

"Only time will tell," he added.

"There's still a lot of cricket to be played in September so if I can bowl pain-free, get myself up and running and hopefully take a few wickets for Durham, then that gives me an opportunity of being selected in the future."