Sussex director of cricket Peter Moores today urged the England management to turn to James Kirtley to solve their Ashes injury problems.

Glamorgan's Simon Jones was ruled out for the rest of the series after suffering medial knee ligament damage on the opening day of the First Test in Brisbane yesterday.

There is a doubt over Darren Gough's future participation because of his knee problems and England have already called up Alex Tudor from the Academy in Adelaide as cover.

A decision on whether further reinforcements are required is unlikely to be made until after the First Test is completed, but the Sussex bowler is bound to feature in deliberations.

The 27-year-old is untried at Test level, but his domestic credentials are impressive and he played in four one-day internationals during the summer before he was sidelined with a broken hand.

Moores said: "I would like to think James will come under serious consideration if they decide to call up another fast bowler.

"He has taken over 125 wickets in his last 25 first-class games and there is no one in domestic cricket who can touch that record.

"Every time James has stepped up in class he has risen to the standard, there are certainly a lot worse players than James who have played Test cricket."

One of Kirtley's biggest attributes is his ability to unsettle left-handers, an important consideration after the carnage wreaked on the first day in Brisbane by Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer.

"James has got both Hayden and Langer out in county cricket before. Because of the angle he bowls at and his ability to swing the ball he gets lots of lbws against left-handers.

"And he's a scrapper. Lancashire's James Anderson is already out there at the Academy and he's a tremendous prospect but I think you need someone with experience. James is untried at Test level, but so was Jones but he was making quite an impact until yesterday."

Kirtley has been taking it easy since returning from the Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka in September and has only just returned from honeymoon in Dubai.

He would relish an unexpected Ashes call-up, but his first thought today was with the unfortunate Jones.

"I played with Simon for the MCC against Sri Lanka last season and he's a nice lad who has obviously made quite an impression on the tour.

"Duncan Fletcher (England coach) thinks he's the sort of bowler who can get you a couple of wickets out of nothing and before he got injured he looked the pick of the bowlers.

"I was sick when I saw a replay of the incident when he suffered the injury, I hope he makes a full recovery."

Kirtley will be back in the gym on Monday, hoping for a summons to the other side of the world comes in the next few days.

"Guys like James Anderson have been mentioned in despatches and then there's Richard Johnson of Somerset, although I'm not sure what his fitness is like at the moment.

"Hopefully there might be an opportunity for me at some stage, but it's just a case of wait and see at the moment."

Jones faces six months out and will fly back to the UK in the next fortnight for surgery. He will first have treatment at the Academy in Adelaide where Sussex's Stuart Osborne is among the physiotherapists.

Fletcher admitted the timing of Jones' injury was particularly cruel.

"It was pretty tragic for the young man," he said. "He has improved in every performance and we were looking forward to seeing him in the Ashes series. It is really unfortunate.

"The team were pretty upset about it. I don't think they realised how serious it was until we told them after play, but there was some concern especially because he was just beginning to offer us something.

"We believed he was the kind of bowler that Nasser has been calling for that can do something different to the rest of the attack."

Australian batsman Ricky Ponting, whose drive Jones was racing after when he suffered his injury, sent his sympathy to the Welshman and admitted he had been impressed with his brief contribution to yesterday's play.

"It's very disappointing for him and the England team what's happened to him," said Ponting.

"He showed a bit, he's obviously got some good pace and Perth would have suited him down to the ground as well."