Ponting set to start training with eye on World Cup

Melbourne:

Ricky Ponting is set to start training after a one-month injury lay-off while Nathan Hauritz is hoping to get back into action at the earliest after a radical blood injection treatment, giving some relief to Australia's injury-ridden lead-up to the World Cup.

Australian team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said Ponting has been given the green light by his surgeon to resume light training, but his progress would become clearer next week, when he starts using a bat.

Ponting, who fractured his finger during the fourth Ashes Test and had since undergone surgery, may even take to the SCG nets on Wednesday, 'Herald Sun' reported.

Hauritz, who had arthroscopic surgery to clean up his joint of the bowling shoulder last Sunday, is planning to undergo the controversial blood injection treatment which was used by cricketers like Graeme Smith for quick recovery.

The off-spinner is aiming to prove his fitness for Australia's World Cup opener on March 21, the report said.

In his bid to play in the World Cup, Hauritz had decided not to repair his torn ligament because that takes months to heal, and instead gone for the same procedure through which Shane Warne had returned to bowling in just 17 days in 2003.

And, he is now mulling blood injection treatment. Key batsman Mike Hussey, who ripped his hamstring off the bone while batting in the first ODI against England here, is still some way from resuming normal activity after undergoing surgery.

"He's two weeks into his rehab. He has got a swollen leg and won't do anything for another week or two. Until he does we won't know when he will be fit" for the World Cup," Kountouris said.

Australia were hit by a series of injuries to their key players and five in the 15-man World Cup squad are battling injuries and racing against time to be fit for the mega event in the sub-continent.

Shaun Tait has missed four of the five ODIs played so far in the series against England through various injuries.

Mitchell Johnson missed three matches with an infection. Shaun Marsh, drafted in as insurance for Hussey, scored a match-winning century in the second ODI in Hobart before suffering a hamstring injury during the fifth match at Brisbane's Gabba on Sunday ruling him out of the remaining two games.