Martyn unlikely to play final

JOHANNESBURG, March 20 AAP - Damien Martyn is unlikely to play in the World Cup final against India because pain-killing injections will numb his right hand, making him ineffective as a batsman and a passenger in the field.

Besides, Australia might be better off without him.

There's no guarantee Martyn will be chosen even if he passes a fitness test on Saturday.

His absence gives Australia an extra bowler in the form of all-rounder Ian Harvey in a side already overflowing with run-raiders.

Andy Bichel has a Cup average of 117 but he'll come in at No.9.

"I'll be honest and see how it goes," said Martyn.

"I've got to be selected as well. If I'm fit I'll make myself available to selectors and team management to see whether they pick me on the day.

"I can pick up a bat, it's just another thing swinging and hitting the ball.

"I've had cricket balls in my hands, throwing them up and down and squeezing.

"In that sense, I've had my hands around balls and bats but it's a different story catching and batting in the game."

Pain-killers seem Martyn's only hope of playing his first World Cup final but they come at a cost, according to team physiotherapist Errol Alcott.

"They're always an option but the trouble with injections is that you obliterate all the sensations so he mightn't know where the ball is in his hand," said Alcott.

"You take away all that feeling. It's an option but we don't generally go down that track all that often."

Martyn and Alcott, who has engineered miracle recoveries before, like Steve Waugh's comeback from a torn calf to play the final Ashes Test in England in 2001, have been working around the clock to ease the pain of the fractured right index finger Martyn suffered while fielding against Kenya last Saturday.

"It's one of those things you've got to take on the chin," Martyn said.

"It probably hit home at the end of the semifinal when you realise you're in the final, and seeing the boys out there playing so well.

"I've been a part of it for the last four years since the last World Cup final, so I'm disappointed but I'm still a part of it and I'm lucky to still be here.

"There are a lot of guys at home sitting there watching - Jason Gillespie, Shane Warne, Shane Watson. I'm here at the moment. If I don't play, I don't play but I'm still a part of it on Sunday."

Alcott said: "I can't do anything about fractures but all the soft tissue stuff we can deal with.

"It's only been a week so he will have some sort of pain, but I've known lots of players to play with fractures."

Martyn probably won't be one of them.