The Surrey left-hander, who has shown the best form of all the tourists' batsmen in Australia, missed England's crushing defeat in the second Test as a result of the after-effects of the long flight from Brisbane to Perth.

Now he is training again - but he is not yet prepared to declare himself fit for the third Test in Adelaide.

After four days rest and an acupuncture session, Thorpe aims to play in this weekend's tour game against Victoria in Melbourne - but only if his back stands up to another long plane journey.

"I was fine when I flew over here, but the next morning my back was stiff again," he revealed after the net session at Perth's WACA ground.

"It's a frustrating time and it is something which I have to try and keep a positive outlook on.

Thorpe puts ice on his arm after being hit in the nets

"We are on tour and things get a little more intense than they might do in other situations. Time is not always on your side, but I've tried to stay positive and not get too down about the fact I have missed the last Test.

"I want to try and make myself available for the next game in Melbourne. It is difficult to look further than that - I have to take each game as it comes."

Thorpe's back problem, which is believed to be different to the injury he suffered last summer, means he has to stand up for most plane flights.

"I feel as if I have been playing fine on the tour," he said, "but it gets a little bit frustrating when you have to sit down for a few days and miss out.

"I have to keep working on my fitness to build my stamina up to get through games on a regular basis.

"The reason you get frustrated by it is because you don't really know what's wrong.

"The operation I had two and a half months ago came after 10 years of playing virtually constant cricket, but now it gets to a stage where maybe it's a little bit harder doing that.

"Maybe in six months time it will be fine again playing on a day to day basis, but at the moment I am working bloody hard to get through it all.

"No one really knows what goes wrong with backs from time to time and I'm in that dilemma.

"I'm not a medical expert, but I would say that what's happened over the last week is not the same as the problem I had before.