Football
Reuters 17y

Cricket-Watson returns to Australia side for New Zealand match

By John Mehaffey

ST GEORGE'S, Grenada, April 19 - All-rounder Shane
Watson will return to the Australia side for Friday's World Cup
Super Eights match against New Zealand after missing the last
three games with a calf strain.

Watson, who missed the 2003 World Cup with a back problem
and the entire 2006-7 Ashes series with a hamstring injury,
strained his left calf while bowling against Bangladesh on March
31.

"He's straight back in the side," captain Ricky Ponting told
a news conference on Thursday. "He's done everything that's been
asked of him in the last few days.

"He's had quite a few good bowling spells under his belt.
He's good and he feels good about himself and he's very excited
to be back."

Watson will replace batsman Brad Hodge who makes way for an
all-rounder for the second time in the tournament.

Hodge played the opening two first-round matches before he
was replaced by Andrew Symonds for the final Group A match
against South Africa. Symonds injured his right bicep muscle a
tri-series match against England earlier in the year.

"We've had only the one little injury," Ponting said. "The
other guys have looked after themselves pretty well. I think
what you have seen so far is a team that is very capable of
winning the World Cup."

Australia have not lost a game in the World Cup since they
were defeated by Pakistan at the 1999 tournament in England.
Under Ponting they went unbeaten throughout the 2003 World Cup
in southern Africa.

"In 2003 we had a few games that we snuck out of jail in,"
Ponting said. "We had a couple of games when we were right
behind the eight ball and managed to turn pretty ordinary
situations in games into very positive ones.

"This time it's been us dominating from pretty much the
first ball that has been bowled in this tournament."

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