London, July 17: Australia is still hopeful that Nathan Hauritz would recover in time from his finger injury and will be able to bowl in England’s second innings here at Lord’s.
Hauritz dislocated the middle finger of his bowling arm when he failed to latch on to a fierce drive from England skipper Andrew Strauss which bent back the off-spinner’s digit and had to leave the field immediately.
However, wicket-keeper Brad Haddin after the opening day’s play yesterday, said Hauritz could still make an impact in the match and may be back in action in the second innings.
”It was good to see him get out in the field in that last session,” Haddin said. ”That gives you some hope. We’ll see how he pulls up. ”With these sorts of dislocated fingers it can sometimes calm down after 24 hours once you’ve had time to throw them in some ice.
I can tell you that for a fact,” Haddin told mediapersons last evening. England went off to a flying start and Hauritz did his bit to put some brakes on the scoring rate and had figures of 0-26 off 8.3 overs before he injured his finger in the post-lunch session.
Although the opening Test in Cardiff ended in a draw, Hauritz was the leading wicket-taker in that match with a six-wicket haul and his injury could prove to be huge blow for the visitors.
Hauritz had X-rays on his finger which showed no break in some good news on an otherwise painful day for the off-spinner.
—–Agencies