Australian fast bowler James Pattinson is having scans on a side injury after leaving the field during the second Test against South Africa.

The 22-year-old paceman, complaining of pain along his left side, left Adelaide Oval during the opening session on Saturday’s third day.

Pattinson was sent for scans, a Cricket Australia spokesman said, in the latest blow in his injury-plagued career.

The express quick missed most of last summer with a foot injury, and suffered from stress fractures in his back as a teenager.