Ponting hopes for quick Watson recovery

Ricky Ponting is eager to have the injury-prone Shane Watson back in his side at the World Cup because he is so important to the balance of the team. Watson, 25, sustained a calf strain during Australia's thrashing of Bangladesh and will miss the game against England.

The initial prognosis was that Watson would be available for the April 20 clash against New Zealand in Grenada, which would be Australia's final fixture before the semi-finals should they qualify. But Ponting said he hadn't given up hope of Watson being fit to face Sri Lanka four days earlier.

"The earlier we can have him back the better," Ponting said. "If we get him back for the Sri Lanka game that would be great but we'll just keep our fingers crossed and hope he keeps coming along well. Originally everyone was hoping he'd be back for the New Zealand game. He's getting around okay now.

"His program has been not to do anything at all, not for this first week and let it heal as much as he can. He's been doing all his rehab, four or five times a day and he's had lots of physio."

James Hopes is on standby back in Australia but Ponting is hopeful Watson will be able to recover after a "horrible run of injuries". "Maybe he has to have a good look and all of our staff have a good look at the way he's training, his weight program and his training programs and everything like that and give him a more resilient body," he said.

"He's an extremely talented player and any team round the world is looking for an allrounder that can give you what he can give you in both forms of the game, so let's hope his body can stand up a bit better because I think he's got a very bright future. The great shame about it being someone like Shane is that he works harder than anybody else on his body and at the moment he's having a bad run."