australian captain Ricky Ponting has said that he is worried about left-arm fast bowler Nathan Bracken's international prospects, who has been ruled out of the ICC Champions Trophy following a knee injury that has hampered him for some time.
Bracken was sent home as his degenerative condition had flared, and a knee specialist at home would be diagnosing his case to determine his immediate future.
"None of us know the extent of it just yet, we won't know until he has it looked at properly and maybe has surgery. He's no spring chicken, he's had it operated on before and I believe it's a degenerative type of condition," Ponting said.
Bracken, who is the highest ranked ODI bowler in the Australian team and has the ability to swing the ball both ways and change speed, has been an essential part of the squad over the last few seasons.
Bracken's absence will be a major blow to Ponting who relied on his steady bowling at the top of the order as a counter-balance to the attack of Brett Lee. Ponting further said that despite Bracken and Lee in their twilight years, Australia would be looking forward to continue with them till the 2011 World Cup.
"Brett by that stage will be 34 and Bracken 33, and you can have one of those guys as long as you don't have two or three," Ponting said.
"With Brett, if he actually makes it through we've got to make sure we look after him well because we've seen in England he can be a leading wicket-taker for us, especially in the conditions that we'll have in the next World Cup with his reverse swing bowling," he added.
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