Recovering Hauritz hopes for India tour

The injured Nathan Hauritz is walking freely again but is unsure whether he will be fit for Australia's two-Test series in India in October. Hauritz wore a moon boot for three weeks to help the recovery from a foot stress problem that sent him home during the limited-overs tour of the British Isles.

Steven Smith replaced Hauritz for the two Tests against Pakistan, but Hauritz remains Australia's No.1 in the five-day game whenever he is healthy. "I would love to be saying I am fully fit and ready for India and there is still seven weeks to go before we leave," Hauritz said in The Sunday Mail. "But I will have to prove my fitness before then and we will not get a good gauge until we step up the training in a couple of weeks."

Hauritz has had a four-week break but running will be the big test. "I will start 40 to 50-minute walks this week and will start jogging on it pretty soon after that," he said.

The injury had been bothering Hauritz, but it was not until he was batting in the ODIs against England that it became bad enough to leave the trip. If he had continued it could have developed into a serious stress fracture.

"We were lucky to pick it up when we did, otherwise it could have been three to four months out not doing anything," he said. Australia's first Test against India is on October 1 in Mohali and the series is a warm up for the Ashes, which begin in November.