Injury worries for Clarke and Hayden

Australia face the prospect of beginning their ICC World Twenty20 campaign against Zimbabwe without several key players who are nursing injuries. Shane Watson has a strained hamstring, Michael Clarke has a lower abdominal strain and Matthew Hayden has been struggling with back spasms.

Australia had a long break after their World Cup victory in the Caribbean and played two Twenty20 warm-up games in South Africa, beating New Zealand and losing to the hosts. Tim Nielsen, the coach, said the players were just getting into the groove before their tournament opener on Wednesday.

"It's normal early season stuff at the moment," Nielsen told AAP. "The fact that we have had some competitive hit-outs have been beneficial from a skill point of view, but physically at the moment it's taken a bit of time to get up and going."

Hayden hurt his back against New Zealand and batted at No. 7 against South Africa as a precaution. "He'd been flat on his back overnight," Nielsen said, "so Alex Kountouris [the physio] had done a great job to get him up and going."

Clarke was rested for both warm-ups and Nielsen was uncertain of his availability for the Zimbabwe clash. "He's getting better, all the signs are that he's improving, and again it's just a management thing and seeing how he goes," Nielsen said. "We're hopeful he'll be playing during the week, whether it's Wednesday or Friday [against England]."

Watson injured his hamstring at a training session in Australia last week and although he has been retained in the squad he is unlikely to play Zimbabwe. Watson arrived in South Africa on Monday along with Ricky Ponting, who had initially stayed home because of concerns over his wife's health.