Waugh to be saved for West Indies tour
AFP
22 January 1999
SYDNEY, Jan 22 (AFP) - Injured Australian limited overs captain Steve
Waugh is unlikely to play in the series against England and Sri Lanka
to ensure he is fit for a West Indies tour next month.
``Our No.1 priority is to have Steve fit for the West Indies,'' chairman
of selectors Trevor Hohns said Friday.
``This latest injury is a recurrence of the one he just had so he also
has to prove to us he's fit to play in a one-day game by playing a
match of some kind.''
At 33, Waugh's body is feeling the strain of 13 years of international
cricket, succumbing to a new muscle strain with almost every tour or
series.
On Thursday he felt a sharp pain in his left hamstring while batting
and did not field in Australia's three-wicket loss to Sri Lanka in
Hobart.
``His injury's a little bit unusual in that we gave him a fair amount
of time to get over the initial one and it seems like he's
re-aggravated it,'' physiotherapist Errol Alcott.
``It's certainly ruled him out of the next two or three games.
``Given that it was three weeks last time and it looks similar ...
we're looking at probably another extended period of time.''
Waugh was man of the series in the Caribbean in 1995 when Australia
ended the West Indies' run of 30 Test series without defeat.
His epic 200 in the final Test in Jamaica, along with 126 from twin
brother Mark, returned the Frank Worrell Trophy after 17 years.
Fellow batsman Michael Bevan will sit out Sunday's match against Sri
Lanka with a groin injury suffered early in the field on Thursday.
``Michael's is only mild but probably bad enough at this stage to
warrant missing a game or two so that in the leadup to the finals
he'll be 100 per cent fit,'' Alcott said.
Swing bowler Damien Fleming will have an ultrasound scan on Monday to
determine the extent of tendonitis in his shoulder.
Alcott said despite the recent injuries, there was no common factor
involved and nothing that could be done to prevent them.
``The one-day game format is a lot harder, a lot faster, there's more
games every second or third day so the workload is pretty intense from
the moment they get onto the field to the time they finish,'' he said.
Sri Lanka play England on Saturday and Australia on Sunday. Australia
play England on Tuesday.
Copyright 1998-2001 AFP. All rights reserved. All information displayed on
this page (dispatches, photographs, logos), with the exception of CricInfo
logos and trademarks, are protected by intellectual property rights owned
by Agence France Presse. As a consequence you may not copy, reproduce,
modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any
of the contents of this section without prior written consent of
Agence-France-Presse.
|
