Recovering Hauritz aims for Sri Lanka tour

Australia's forgotten spinner Nathan Hauritz is facing a difficult task to be fit for this year's tour of Sri Lanka, as he continues his recovery from a serious shoulder injury. Hauritz had surgery on his right shoulder in March and hopes to start bowling in three weeks, but he is unlikely to be able to throw at full strength by the time Australia visit Sri Lanka, a trip expected to take place in August.

Hauritz hasn't played since January 21, when a fielding mishap during an ODI against England in Hobart left him in severe pain, and an arthroscopy shortly afterwards wasn't enough to get him to the World Cup. In March, Hauritz had a major operation that ruled him out of April's tour of Bangladesh and he watched on as Jason Krejza and Xavier Doherty pressed their cases in the one-day team.

"In the back of my mind I probably knew, when we did the fitness testing we knew that it was nowhere near right [for the World Cup]," Hauritz told ESPNcricinfo. "It had to improve pretty rapidly while I was over there to be able to play. I understood the decision, they had to get a spinner over there and start straight away. I wanted it to be me, no doubt, but it just couldn't happen.

"It's all progressing really well now. The last couple of weeks we stepped up the training with a bit more strength-based stuff, swimming and push-ups and that sort of thing, and it's really responded well. I'm very happy with where it's at.

"I'm hoping to be bowling in about three weeks. Generally it's about a four- to six-month recovery. I'm hoping to be fit for selection [for Sri Lanka in August], and bowling. I probably won't be throwing by then, but definitely bowling and everything like that should be no drama."

However, being fit is one thing; being picked is quite another. The spin-friendly pitches in Sri Lanka might encourage the selectors to take an extra tweaker, but it's far from clear who will have the front-running. The Western Australia left-armer Michael Beer played Australia's most recent Test, the Ashes loss in Sydney, and although he didn't bowl badly, one wicket for the match was not enough to make him a certainty for their next series.

Doherty, the Tasmanian left-armer, played the first two Ashes Tests but was axed and is now likely to be viewed as a limited-overs specialist. The offspinner Krejza won a surprise call-up towards the end of the summer and despite having little impact at the World Cup, he might be seen as a player with greater Test-match potential. Then there's the question of if and how Steven Smith fits into the side.

It all adds up to a winter of uncertainty for Hauritz, who fell out of favour after struggling on the Test tour of India last October. However, since his second coming as a Test player began in November 2008, only Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle have taken more wickets for Australia than the 58 at 36.22 that Hauritz has collected, and he hopes there are more Test opportunities to come.

"Fingers crossed. They went the way of the two left-arm finger-spinners for the Ashes, but I've always believed that if I'm good enough and I'm bowling well enough then I'm going to be there or thereabouts," he said. "I think not playing in the Ashes gave me the opportunity to learn my game that little bit more. There were bits and pieces to improve. I think playing domestically my bowling improved, my batting improved and I've become a lot more confident in my game."

If he does earn another Test call-up later this year - and the South African tour in November might be a more realistic goal than Sri Lanka - it will be under the new captain Michael Clarke, who as a part-time spinner himself, might have a different approach to handling spinners than Ricky Ponting. Hauritz said Clarke was a calming influence on the field.

"Pup has always had a pretty big impact on my game anyway," Hauritz said. "He was always offering ideas, him and Punter were talking different tactics. It's just going to be a difference of opinion now. It's a different player with a different tactic and it might help my game, it might not. So far, every time I've played he's been fantastic. He's always tried to calm me down or talk to me, and he's played that vice-captain role very well."

As captain, Clarke will now have some say in the matter of how closely Hauritz and his healing shoulder are considered.