Australian one-day batsman Callum Ferguson has mixed emotions about the timing of his season-ending knee injury.
Ferguson, who ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament while fielding during Australia's Champions Trophy victory over New Zealand in South Africa last week, was looking forward to a big summer with the Aussies after averaging 46.08 at a strike rate of 85.09 in his three Twenty20 and 25 ODI's since making his debut earlier this year.
The 24-year-old is disappointed to be sidelined but said he was glad he'd had a chance to play in the national side before the setback.
"It's not something I was hoping to come home with but I've had a pretty good 12 months, I've had lots of opportunities and I'm just glad it didn't happen 18 months ago," Ferguson said.
"It's going to be tough watching the Redbacks boys run around and then the Indian series from afar."
"It was so much fun playing with the Aussie boys and we were having a bit of success too but also very grateful that I did actually have the opportunity in the first place."
After suffering a similar injury in 2004, Ferguson has decided to take a conservative approach to surgery by having a hamstring replacement cruciate rather than a synthetic one which reduces the recovery process.
"They've had a real high success rate with those so rather than go with the synthetic we weren't quite sure ... they haven't been doing them for quite as long," he said.
The Redbacks' year begins with a Sheffield Shield match against Tasmania at Adelaide Oval on Tuesday. Ferguson wants to spend some time around the group despite the injury and then hopefully make his comeback in the corresponding match in the 2010-11 season.
"I've left it open at this stage but it would be fantastic if I was able to get myself up and ready to go by game one next year with the Redbacks," he said.
"I've probably set that as a bit of a goal but I haven't really thought about it too much at this stage."
National selector and the Redbacks high performance manager Jamie Cox said he was confident Ferguson's injury would only be a temporary setback in the batsman's career.
"He's a young man with plenty of time ahead, this is a minor hurdle and we are all sure he'll we get stronger and better than ever," Cox said.