Ajmal Shahzad has spoken for the first time about the injury which he fears could cut short his career.

Shahzad’s debut season at Sussex came to an abrupt halt in June when he broke down on his comeback from a torn pectoral muscle.

The 30-year-old was sidelined for the rest of the summer and although he began bowling again in the indoor school at Hove last month specialists have warned him that there is no guarantee the problem won’t flare up again in the future.

Shahzad is currently exploring options to play overseas this winter to test the injury in a match situation and is determined to add to the five Championship appearances he has been limited to so far for Sussex since joining from Nottinghamshire 12 months ago.

But the former England seamer has revealed he also enrolled in an accountancy course to give himself something to fall back on if the worst comes to the worst.

Shahzad said: “It was a bit of a freak injury really. It came out of the blue and because it is so rare we didn’t really know how long I would be out for.

“When you have a hamstring injury or something like that you know exactly how long it will take to recover and what it will feel like when you do come back.

“With this it is different as not many people have had a similar injury, not just in cricket but in any sport. The specialist said it could take 12 months and that I might always have the problem.

“I realise my career could get cut short if I don’t manage to come back the way I want to. I might not be as good a bowler as I was. I might be limited as to what I can do in terms of the pace I want to bowl and the skills I am able to use.

“When it happened the second time and was told I couldn’t do anything for two or three months you do panic a bit and wonder what the future is going to hold. Those kind of thoughts can get you in a bad place but I’ve been lucky to be at a club like Sussex.

“People say you are a long time retired but I have to be realistic and think about what will happen if the injury does come back so I enrolled in an accountancy course while I was injured so I have something to fall back on after cricket.

“Hopefully that will be a few years down the line yet but it gave me something to channel my energy into while I was recovering and helped to take my mind off things.”

At the moment Shahzad is completely focused on overcoming the injury which first reared its head against Middlesex at Hove in May and then flared up just four overs into his comeback against Durham at Arundel in June.

The former Yorkshire seamer had originally planned to play grade cricket in Australia – with either Port Adelaide or a team in Melbourne – as he steps up his rehabilitation but Sussex are wary of him being asked to bowl long spells before he is ready.

He said: “I’m not sure if going to Australia is going to be suitable now as I need to build myself up rather than bowling full tilt straight away.

“A few of the Sussex lads (Harry Finch, Luke Wells and Phil Salt) are going to Dubai to play in a Twenty20 competition so I might go there or I might join Chris Nash and Ben Brown in South Africa.

“I just need to start bowling outside in a competitive situation. I’ve been in the gym nearly every day and started bowling indoors three weeks ago and haven’t had any problems at all but I need to test it under extreme pressure to see how it responds.”

Shahzad took 20 wickets in his opening three Championship games for Sussex and was averaging a respectable 28 with the bat before being stopped in his tracks.

That had raised his hopes of a potential England recall five years after his solitary Test appearance against Bangladesh at Old Trafford and he still believes he could do a job for his country if he can maintain his fitness.

“I thought it was a second coming for me and I was ready to grasp it with both hands,” said Shahzad about his initial impact at Hove. “To lose virtually a whole year at the age of 30 is hard to take, especially as the way I was playing could possibly have got me back in the England set-up.

“It was hugely frustrating as I had trained so hard to play a full season and then it got taken away from me. I’ve pretty much lost a year of my career and whether I get that back at the end of my career I don’t know.

“I would love to start next season in a similar fashion and I know that if I do it could put me back in the frame for England. They are still searching for a death bowler and I don’t see why someone like myself can’t do that job.”