Time frame set for Lynn to prove fitness

The next seven days will determine whether Brisbane Heat star batsman Chris Lynn will feature in Australia’s T20 outfit this month or be rubbed out with injury.

Lynn is racing against the clock to be fit for the opening KFC T20 INTL against Sri Lanka at the MCG after he was today named in Australia’s 13-man squad for the three-match series.

The 26-year-old is battling a neck injury he’s carried throughout the summer and finally succumbed to in the wake of his ODI debut and sensational early-season form in the KFC Big Bash League.

"The neck is getting there," Lynn told reporters in Brisbane on Wednesday. "I saw the specialist this morning.

"I’ve got another week of rehab and rest so hopefully in seven days it comes good and I can hit the nets and prepare as best as possible for the upcoming games against Sri Lanka.

"There’s not a great deal of physio I can do with it being a nerve. Rest is the most important thing.

"I think because I’ve had it for such a long time and I was playing through the Big Bash with it, it’s going to be a slower healing process. Fingers crossed it comes good."

Lynn has had a torrid time with injury in the past three seasons, damaging his left shoulder on three separate occasions, the last of which came prior to the T20 international series in Sri Lanka last September.

The right-hander dislocated his left shoulder diving for a ball in a routine fielding drill in Kandy, ruling him out of the two-match T20I series and the entire Matador BBQs One-Day Cup.

Lynn hander conceded he may have to change his intensity during training to avoid further injury, and is hopeful he will not have to go under the knife to fix his latest issue.

"There is a surgery option there but that’s the last resort for me," he said. "I’ve had enough of those.

"The less time I spend on the hospital bed the better.

"Touch wood, fingers crossed, all those good luck things over the next seven days and see what happens.

"Hopefully I can get my range back. I know if I get that back then I can get back in the nets, hitting balls and hopefully pain free."

Lynn has been completely open about the state of his recovery with the national selection panel, in particular interim chairman Trevor Hohns.

"I talk to Trevor Hohns nearly every day," he said.

"I see him as a selector but I see him as a mate as well.

"So we talk on and off the record and he’s in the loop with everything and I’m up front with him, which is the best thing.

"He’s going to tell me if I’m not right then I’m not going to play and vice versa.

"I’ve got a good relationship with him and we’ll just keep working towards getting back on the paddock."

Lynn lit up the BBL this summer with a tournament-high 26 sixes and was named the Player of the Tournament for the second year running.

Having averaged an astounding 154.50 at a strike rate of 177.58 per 100 balls faced in five matches for the Heat, Australia’s selection panel had no choice but to pick Lynn for his one-day international debut against Pakistan at the Gabba.

While he made only 16, he says he felt he was in "good touch" during his maiden innings in 50-over cricket for his country.

Lynn may be in the selectors’ minds for the upcoming 50-over ICC Champions Trophy in the UK this winter, but former Australia batsman Mike Hussey says the Queenslander is a must in the T20 team and should be given time to develop ahead of the World T20 in 2020.

That tournament will be staged in Australia and on the pitches where Lynn has demolished bowling attacks from pillar to post.

"Lynn will be coming into his prime by the time we hit the World T20," Hussey told cricket.com.au.

"As long as he can keep his body right, he’s had a few issues along the way.

"We need to give him an opportunity and a good run at it. We can’t just bring him in for a game here and there and then get rid of him and then bring him in again.

"In my mind he’s the best power hitter in the country, and that includes all the big boys.

"Lynn hits the ball harder and further than anyone in the country.

"He can be so devastating in T20 cricket. Once he gets going he’s pretty much impossible to stop.

"It’s great to see him in there and let’s hope he passes his fitness test and is OK to play."

While Australia’s Test squad will be preparing to tackle India during the T20 series on home soil, Lynn says the group that will assemble to take on Sri Lanka should still be too strong for the visitors despite the absence of some of Australian cricket’s biggest stars.

"I think the depth in Australian cricket, especially in that (T20) format even though we haven’t won a World Cup, is definitely there," Lynn said.

"We’ve got some good young talent coming through which I believe can take on international teams even with the Test team away.

"I’m fully confident the new-look squad will get the job done comfortably."