Saturday 24 January 2015 13:00, UK
Australia coach Darren Lehmann says key pace bowler Mitchell Johnson may be fit to play in Monday’s Tri-Series encounter against India.
The 33-year-old left-armer has been superb for Australia over the last year or so, and was named man-of-the-series after they defeated England 5-0 in the Ashes last winter.
However, he has been absent for the last few weeks due to niggling fitness problems and undisclosed personal reasons.
It has been suggested that Australia might be intending to rest Johnson until the World Cup opener against England on 14 February but Lehmann says that is not the plan and that the strike bowler may be back on Monday, ahead of the final the following Sunday.
"He'd be close,” said Lehmann. “He's bowling in the nets and will be full training on Sunday, so hopefully he's available for selection.
"There's no resting. It's a final, so there's a trophy up for grabs, and we've got to try and win that, so that's important for us as well.
"For us it's a case of worrying what we do well and keep doing that. We can't worry about England, we can only worry about what we're doing."
Australia beat England on Friday without captain George Bailey (suspended due to a slow over-rate in the previous match), David Warner and Shane Watson (both had hamstring injuries).
The first two are set to return on Monday but Watson may not be risked.
"Warner will be fine,” said Lehmann. “He'll come back in. With Watson, we'll just see how he goes at training.
"We want to get everyone 100 per cent fit for the final and then the World Cup, so that's what we're looking at."
