England captain Michael Vaughan has vowed a "little hamstring injury"
won't stop him leading the side when the World Cup gets underway in the
Caribbean next month.
The 32-year-old Yorkshire batsman has spent much of the past
year sidelined from international action with a longstanding knee problem and
played no part in England's 5-0 Ashes thrashing by Australia.
But having overcome the knee injury the then played in just
three of England's 10 subsequent one-dayers where the side, after a wretched
start, battled back to win four straight games, including three against Australia,
that saw them beat the hosts and world champions in the tri-series final.
England, once labelled also-rans but now considered contenders
to win what would be their first World Cup title, depart for the Caribbean on
March 2 and Vaughan is confident he will be among the 15-man squad.
"A little hamstring injury is not going to stop me from continuing to
try to get back," Vaughan told Sky Sports on Tuesday. "It's progressing
nicely. I'm looking forward to getting on the plane a week on Friday and continuing
my rehab out in the Caribbean."
England will hope Vaughan comes through their two warm-up games against Bermuda
on March 5 and Australia on March 9, both in St Vincent, before they begin the
tournament proper against fellow Group C giants New Zealand, who wrapped up
a 3-0 series win over Australia on Tuesday, in St Lucia on March 16.
"The two warm-up games against Bermuda and Australia are
going to be quite crucial, just to try and play a couple of games, get a bit
of match practice," Vaughan explained. "I'm looking forward to that
first game against New Zealand."
He added: "I just need a little bit of luck. The last year, I haven't
had much luck with injuries. Six months ago, I got told I wouldn't play again.
I've come back from that."
But he said match practice would be the only way of knowing if his hamstring
would stand up to the demands of a World Cup.
"Hamstrings are a funny injury and you never really know how they're going
to react until you go and play a game of cricket. But all the medical teams
are very confident over the way it's gone in the past week.
"How much of a part I'll play in the first (practice) game, I'm not too
sure. I'll certainly need to get out there and have a bat and get some form
going into that first game against New Zealand.
"If I get through the early stages and get my hamstring
through recovery, I have no doubt I'll last the whole tournament." Top
order batsman Vaughan, who could open alongside Andrew Strauss, is one of three
players causing injury concerns for England along with pace bowlers James Anderson (back) and Jon Lewis (ankle). However the International Cricket
Council have relaxed their rules on injured players and teams can now summon
replacements provided the World Cup technical committee approves their request.
England, who are cofident dashing shot-maker Kevin Pietersen will be fit after
sustaining a rib injury in Australia, are far from alone in having fitness problems
as they approach cricket's showpiece tournament.
Australia saw batsman Matthew Hayden break a toe against New Zealand on Tuesday
and the opener has now joined fast bowler Brett Lee (ankle) and all-rounder
Andrew Symonds (bicep) as a major injury worry while doubts linger over captain
Ricky Ponting (back) and fellow batsman Michael Clarke (hip).
|
