I knew I'd be back: MacGill

Comeback spinner Stuart MacGill revealed on Thursday morning he was always confident he would recover from wrist surgery.

MacGill will make his return to first-class cricket on Friday against South Australia after having surgery in November to correct carpal tunnel syndrome in his right wrist.

Despite doomsayers predicting a swift demise to MacGill's first-class, the leg-spinner himself knew from the day he had surgery he would be alright.

"Before surgery I thought about that (not playing at first class level again). My surgeon is very good at his job and day one I had the feeling back in my fingers and I knew I'd be ready to play eventually," he said.

"I knew I'd be back playing pretty much the day I had surgery."

The 37-year-old has spent the past few weeks building his confidence playing grade cricket for club side Sydney University.

"I've felt encouraged right from the first ball I've bowled," he said.

"I was very, very nervous before I bowled a ball because I wasn't sure if I was ready to go yet but very shortly into my first spell I knew I was ready to play state cricket."

"I've been pretty keen to go for a couple of weeks now."

Spin great Shane Warne, who bounced back from shoulder and finger surgery during his career, said the hardest thing on the comeback trail to overcome were the nagging doubts in the back of one's mind.

"It just takes one delivery, or one thing in the nets, something to happen for you and you go 'ah, I'm OK'," said Warne, who was on the Melbourne leg of his nationwide tour as an ambassador for Cricket Australia on Thursday.

"Until you really give that chance to relax it takes a little bit of time depending on what injury it is."

Warne said MacGill would be hungry after a disappointing Test series against Sri Lanka and his time on the sidelines.

"He'll be disappointed with that but hopefully that's driven him a little bit. He's got a bit of motivation to come out and play really well in the last couple of weeks," he said.

"Hopefully, touch wood, his injuries and that are OK and he can come out and bowl really well and we've got a very, very good spinner that can play for Australia."