Irani hip operation a success

Ronnie Irani, the Essex captain, has declared his hip operation a success after returning from Colorado.

"I went over to Vail, Colorado last week initially to get a [left] hip operation from a guy called Marc Philippon - who also operated on Ashley Giles - and that was successful," he said. "I was hoping to get the knee operation done at the same time but, with the angle they need to get the knee into, it would have been impossible because it might have damaged my hip. So I need to rest the hip and will then return to Vail in six weeks' time when I'm going to take my wife and two children out who can do some skiing while I get operated on!"

Irani enjoyed an outstanding 2006 season, scoring 1075 runs at 59.72 in the Championship; 379 runs at 63.16 in the C&G Trophy and 338 runs at 42.25 in the Twenty20 Cup. In addition, he led his side to success in the Pro40 and Twenty20 Floodlit Cup.

"I'm still hoping that everything should be bang on schedule to be fit for the start of next season," he added. "I've got plenty of time for the rehab on the knee - it's not major surgery but it's something similar to what I had three years' ago on the right knee - and though you can never say never and things should be a little bit tender pre-season I should still be able to get through."