Hussey struggling for early World Cup matches

Michael Hussey will find out in 48 hours about his World Cup chances © Getty Images Enlarge

Michael Hussey has admitted he will struggle to be fit for Australia's opening two World Cup matches but is confident of being able to take a significant part in the rest of the tournament as he fights to overcome his serious hamstring injury.

Hussey suffered the problem, when the muscle was ripped off the bone, during the first one-day international at Melbourne and underwent surgery. He has since been going through an extensive rehabilitation programme and will find out in the next two days whether he'll make the cut.

He was with the Australia squad yesterday as they prepared for the final one-day international at Perth and hopes the length of the World Cup will work in his favour. "My rehabilitation has been going extremely well. It has been 19 days since the operation and I'm smoothly jogging down the road to full recovery, ahead of schedule," Hussey said in his column for Perth's Sunday Times.

"Looking at the World Cup schedule, I believe I've got plenty of time to make sure I'm 100% fit; perhaps not for the first or second game, but for the third match against Sri Lanka on March 5."

To try and speed up his recovery progress, Hussey avoided using crutches after his operation and pushed himself hard once he was given the all clear. "I started jogging last Thursday, which was ahead of schedule. It's been good to see such switch progress," he said. "I got through the sessions without any discomfort."

If Hussey travels and isn't available for the early matches it will leave Australia in a difficult position should other injuries occur. However, there is precedence from previous campaigns because in 2003 both Michael Bevan and Darren Lehman were injured at the start of the event and in 2007 Andrew Symonds was unavailable for the early games.

Hussey is just one of a number of fitness concerns for Australia ahead of the tournament where they will be aiming for a fourth consecutive title. Ricky Ponting has just returned to training after the broken finger he suffered during the Ashes while Nathan Hauritz dislocated his shoulder during the second ODI at Hobart.

Shaun Marsh, who replaced Hussey in the current one-day squad, has suffered a hamstring strain while Xavier Doherty has a back problem and Steve Smith injured his hip at Sydney. There is also concern over Brett Lee who only had a light training session at the WACA on Saturday and was pictured holding his elbow.

However, Cameron White played down worries about Australia's strike bowler. White said: "I'm pretty sure he's not injured."