Ricky Ponting hopes his injured finger will be right for the start of the World Cup next month, but Michael Hussey's future is less clear following a serious hamstring tear. Both players were named in Australia's 15-man squad, but Andrew Hilditch indicated Hussey was in some doubt for the event.
"It's quite a severe hamstring injury," Hilditch said after announcing the outfit in Sydney. "It's obviously something we'll need to assess before the team departs."
Hussey hurt himself during Sunday's one-day win over England at the MCG and is expected to be out for six weeks. Australia's first game of the World Cup is against Zimbabwe on February 21 in Ahmedabad, with the quarter-finals starting a month later.
"He's still deciding the best medical management, it's just happened at a bad time," Hilditch said. "Obviously Mike's a key player of our squad so he's in this squad, but a final decision whether he's going to be fit or not will be made closer to our departure date."
Ponting has no such doubts over his left little finger, which he broke while fielding during the third Ashes Test in Perth. He missed the Sydney match and had surgery, ruling him out of the seven ODIs against England.
"I'm hoping to be right for the start of the World Cup," Ponting said. "My finger's coming along okay, I guess. I haven't been able to do anything for the last couple of weeks post-surgery, but I've got a bit more movement now."
The finger is still in a splint and Ponting said it would be looked at by a doctor once a week. "I'm pretty keen to get a bat back in my hands again and I'm going to be around the team, certainly this week down in Hobart for the second game," he said.
Ponting is 36 and heading to his fifth World Cup, but he said even a fourth consecutive victory would not hide the pain of the Ashes defeat. "I'm not sure if anything would erase what's just happened," he said. "Payback's going to be hard to get after losing the Ashes."
Australia's position in ODIs is much better than in Tests, where they sit fifth, and Ponting remains confident of his side's chances. "We're quite clearly the No.1-ranked one-day team in the world, and I think just little things like the great win that we had the other night shows that this one-day team is certainly on the right track," he said. "We've got a really proud record in the subcontinent and we'll be going there to do everything we can to win another World Cup."
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