Shane Warne to undergo arthroscope on right shoulder

Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne will undergo an arthroscope on his right shoulder after dislocating it during Sunday night's VB Series match against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (15 December).

The procedure, which is expected to take place on Monday, will follow diagnostic scans and allow the shoulder joint to be flushed clean of blood from the injury as well as offering the opportunity to assess whether any further damage has been sustained.

The dislocation, which is to the same shoulder that Warne had reconstructed in May 1998, occurred when the player dived attempting to stop a straight drive during Australia's 89-run win.

Warne was taken from the field on a stretcher and once in the dressing room his shoulder was put back in place by Australian Cricket Board medical officer Dr Trefor James.

Commenting on the injury, Australian team physiotherapist Errol Alcott said: "It is one of those situations where we need to wait and see what damage has been done and assess it from there.

"We haven't seen a dislocation in a leg-spinner and Shane does have a prior history with his shoulder joint.

"The best case scenario is that it just stretched the capsule and the joint popped forward and that could mean four to six weeks."

That timeframe would be close to the World Cup, with Australia's first match in the tournament, against Pakistan in Johannesburg, due to take place on 11 February.

However, Alcott was reluctant to use that tournament as a benchmark for Warne's recovery.

"I think it is just a question of Shane Warne's shoulder getting better as soon as possible and with as little chance of re-injury as possible. We can't use the World Cup as a milestone for his rehabilitation," he added.

Australia's next action is against Sri Lanka in the VB Series in Perth on 22 December with the squad for that match to be announced on Wednesday at 1100 Melbourne time