MELBOURNE: Strike bowler Josh Hazlewood is confident he’ll have plenty of time to recover from a stress fracture in his back before Australia’s defence of the World Cup in England later this year.

The paceman, who has taken 72 wickets in 44 One-day Internationals and missed Australia’s two recent Tests against Sri Lanka, has been ruled out of the upcoming limited overs tour of India and the ODI series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates that follows.

The 28-year-old quick said he would be having another scan on the damaged back that has kept him sidelined since mid-January in Sydney on Friday and was happy there would be plenty of playing opportunities to get match-fit before June.

Cricket Australia physiotherapist David Beakley previously said he was suffering an early stage stress fracture, similar to one that sidelined him for six months last year.

Hazlewood said he was targeting World Cup warm-up games for his return, with a follow-up scan on Friday set to shed more light on his progress.

“I think, working back [for] the World Cup mostly,” he told reporters on Thursday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where he helped Australia beat New Zealand in the 2015 final. “That’ll give me plenty of time to get fit for the World Cup and the Ashes. There’s quite a long build-up ... there’s still quite a lot of cricket I can get to before the World Cup actually starts.

“It’s already been six weeks and, as I say, we’ll know more tomorrow, but ever­ything’s feeling pretty good. We’ll probably start walk-through bowling in the next couple of weeks if all goes well. Everything feels fine so training’s coming along nicely, progressing eve­ry week and make sure everything’s right for that, which gives me plenty of time.”

Australia play their first World Cup group game against Afghanistan at Bristol on June 1, with three practice matches scheduled at home against New Zealand in May.

Fellow fast bowler Mitchell Starc is also struggling with injury after suffering a ‘substantial’ muscle tear in the final Test against Sri Lanka.

He has been ruled out of the India series, with his availability for Pakistan not yet known.

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2019