Selectors back Waugh's return

Australia's chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said on Tuesday he backed captain Steve Waugh's plan to return from injury for the first Test against New Zealand on November 8 with only a club match as preparation.

Waugh, 36, will play for Bankstown in Sydney on November 3-4 ahead of the first Test against New Zealand in Brisbane.

He will miss the interstate four-day match for New South Wales against South Australia starting on October 26 in Sydney to allow him to do more strengthening work on his left calf muscle.

"He's fine," Hohns was quoted as saying in The Herald Sun newspaper. "We want him fully fit and with a couple of extra weeks it will help his leg get back to full strength.

"There are no hard and fast rules about selecting players after injury. It really is at our discretion."

Waugh missed the fourth Test against England in August because of his calf strain. He returned to hit 157 not out in the fifth Test at The Oval even though the injury deteriorated during his innings.

Waugh said in an Australian Cricket Board statement released on Monday that missing the interstate match was not a major issue.

"I'm confident there will be no problem with me being in Brisbane (for the first Test)," Waugh said.

He developed deep-vein thrombosis in his left calf after sustaining the injury and was prescribed blood-thinning medication.

Mail Cricket Editor