Cricket: Hussey backed for World Cup return

PERTH - Western Australia coach Mickey Arthur has urged national selectors to hand Mike Hussey a World Cup recall, claiming the 35-year-old is fit and ready to perform for his country.

Hussey, who underwent hamstring surgery in January, will make his playing return this week when he lines up for WA in their Sheffield Shield clash with Queensland at the WACA Ground, starting on Thursday.

If Hussey successfully negotiates his way through the four days, the left-hander could earn a World Cup recall following a tournament-ending ankle injury to paceman Doug Bollinger.

Although it was initially thought Hussey could not be called back into the squad after being withdrawn from the original team, it is believed the ICC have said there is nothing stopping Australia from re-selecting Hussey.

"I think you've got to have a left-hander in the middle, there's absolutely no doubt about that," Arthur said.

"When you've got the ball spinning you've got to have the ability to be able to rotate strike through the middle ... left-hand, right-hand through the middle is an ideal combination for the subcontinent.

"Huss will be ready, he'll be ready to go if he gets an opportunity and he certainly won't let anybody down."

Arthur also believed national selectors would be making a mistake if they forced Hussey to retire anytime soon from the Test or one-day squad.

"He certainly wouldn't be the one that I'd be putting under pressure at the moment," Arthur said.

"I do think that it probably is time to change for Australia, I do think that they are going to get to a situation where they probably need to blood some younger players.

"If they're serious about going and winning the 2013 Ashes there's no doubt about that but with all the young players that you have, you need some experience to guide them.

"Huss's hunger for the game is still as it was ... when he was an 18-year-old, so I wouldn't say Huss is certainly anywhere near retirement at the moment.

"There's absolutely no doubt he's got a lot of cricket left in him, no doubt."

WA will be boosted by the return of Shaun Marsh from injury, but Adam Voges could find himself relegated to 12th man following a string of failures with the bat.

The Bulls will be without injured duo Chris Swan (hamstring) and Michael Neser (abdominal strain), with batsman Chris Lynn and paceman Cameron Gannon returning to the team.

Queensland must win their remaining two games to have any chance of sneaking into the final.

WA squad: Marcus North (capt), Tom Beaton, Michael Beer, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Ryan Duffield, Michael Hogan, Mike Hussey, Michael Johnson, Mitch Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Wes Robinson, Adam Voges (12th man to be named).

Queensland squad: James Hopes (capt), Cameron Boyce, Ryan Broad, Joe Burns, Luke Feldman, Jason Floros, Cameron Gannon, Chris Hartley, Chris Lynn, Alister McDermott, Andrew Robinson, Wade Townsend (12th man to be named).

- AAP