Central Districts leg-spinner Tim Anderson was looking forward with relish to a first-class season with two rounds of Shell Trophy cricket.

But he's joined the stress fracture to the back brigade and is likely to be out of top cricket until mid-January at least.

Anderson, who is studying at Lincoln University, first noticed the stinging pain in his back that has become the curse of New Zealand bowlers in late-September, two days before he was due to attend the New Zealand spin bowling clinic at the High Performance Centre in Lincoln.

The course was run by former Australian Test leg-spinner Terry Jenner.

Anderson attended the camp and then went straight into the Central Districts pre-season camp but found that after five minutes of bowling he had to pack it in.

He joins international left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori as spinners who have succumbed to what has previously been a pace bowler's complaint.

Anderson was at a loss to anything in his regular training routine that could have precipitated the injury.

He was doing the usual light weights training programme for basic strength and while having made some minor adjustments to his bowling technique it was nothing too significant.

Making the injury even more frustrating for him was the fact that with off-spinner Campbell Furlong staying overseas for the summer, Anderson had a golden chance to have a good long season of first-class play.

"With Campbell here I was always the second spinner in the side and had several games as 12th man and with only five games in the Shell Trophy I didn't get many chances.

"I thought with two rounds of the Trophy this summer it was going to be my chance," he said.

Anderson is awaiting word of when he can have a CT scan to determine how bad the injury is.

"It is a bit disappointing. But hopefully I can make the second round of the Trophy.

"I was going to be playing in Nelson in a bid to make the CD team. I said to Nelson, 'I'll see you at the start of the season' but just like last season when I had an operation on a benign tumour in my knee I missed the first part of the season, so I'm not going to make it to Nelson again.

"I've got a real feeling of déjà vu," he said.

© CricInfo