MATT Quinn says he expects to be back for Essex not long after the start of the new season.

With just two months until the start of the new season, Essex are making their final preparations and have added Peter Siddle and Adam Zampa to their ranks already - Siddle for the first five games of the County Championship season and Zampa for the T20 Blast campaign.

Quinn - who missed much of last season with a stress fracture to his back - is now edging closer to a return and he says he is excited to be back in the fold, having spent Christmas in his native New Zealand.

“The rehabilitation is all going well,” he said. “I am scheduled to maybe miss the first few weeks of the season but I am happy with that. I should be back bowling in about three weeks, which is pretty good.

“It has been frustrating more than anything else. Having an operation and then undergoing rehab and then having to do it again was difficult.

“I went back to New Zealand for Christmas and it can give you a bit of a restart. A change in environment is good.

“It is always nice to have new faces around, we are living together as a squad and the team environment is great.”