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England cricket captain promises to beat hamstring injury

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. Andrew Strauss

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).

Tags:- Andrew Strauss   Australia   Bermuda   Brett Lee   Cricket Council   James Anderson   Jon Lewis   Kevin Pietersen   Michael Vaughan   Ricky Ponting   Sky Sports   tri series   World Cup  

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