Michael Vaughan ... hoping hamstring injury will get through warm-up matches. - Reuters LONDON (AP):
ENGLAND'S INJURY-plagued cricket captain Michael Vaughan is confident his suspect knee will stand up to the rigors of the World Cup.
As long as his hamstring gets him through the warm-up games.
"If I get through the early stages and get my hamstring through recovery, I have no doubt that I'll last the whole tournament," said Vaughan, who has been sidelined for most of the past 12 months because of his right knee.
Vaughan, who needed two operations to repair knee damage that threatened his career, missed the entire 5-0 Ashes loss to Australia as well as last season's Test series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Vaughan's latest comeback in the subsequent one-day series against Australia and New Zealand lasted three games before he was sidelined again with a hamstring problem.
With the World Cup in the Caribbean from March 11 to April 28, the Yorkshire batsman hopes to get himself fit for the warm-up games against Bermuda (March 5) and Australia (March 9), both at St. Vincent.
Banking on luck
"I just need a little bit of luck. I haven't had much luck with injuries," Vaughan said. "Six months ago I got told I wouldn't play again. I've come back from that and a little hamstring injury (is) not going to stop me from continuing to try and get back.
"I do feel I deserve a little bit of luck and, once I get back in the team, hopefully I'll have a sustained period in that team."
Vaughan said that the problem with a hamstring injury was that it could flare up again at any time.
"I haven't got a clue about percentages. I just know I'm feeling good because of the treatment," he said. "Hamstrings are a funny injury and you never really know how they are going to react until you go and play a game of cricket ... Until I play those two warm-up games and continue the rehab in the Caribbean, I'm really nervous how it's going to react to match situations.
"But all the medical teams are very confident over the way it's gone in the past week."
