Hastings puts WT20 ahead of surgery

John Hastings won't let an ongoing shoulder injury stop him from competing in the ICC World T20 as he looks to cement his spot in Australia's limited-overs teams.

Hastings dislocated his left shoulder three times prior to Christmas, all in a freak training mishaps, but has opted not to undergo surgery to continue playing for Australia. 

"Touch wood it’s actually been pretty good," Hastings said when asked how his shoulder was holding up.

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"We have it strapped for training and games and doing a lot of rehab.

"Just got the TheraBands out in my room and do that three times a day and just get some physio on it, and touch wood it’s going really well. 

"Barring any major incident or fall or anything on it I think it’ll be OK for a little while."

Hastings, who stands at an impressive 195cm, has been colossal in white-ball cricket since returning in the one-day international series against England last September.

A career-best 3-21 in the deciding match at Old Trafford proved his class at international level, but he was initially overlooked for the Victoria Bitter ODI series against India this summer.

The 30-year-old earned a call-up - initially just for one match - when the national selectors decided to rest fellow allrounder Mitchell Marsh, and the Victorian hasn't looked back.

Hastings played the remaining four matches of the series, claimed four wickets at the MCG – a new personal-best – and was frugal in a run-heavy series.

He backed it up with a superb display in New Zealand, bowling tight and scoring a vital 48no in concert with Marsh to guide Australia home in Wellington.

Those performances made Hastings a lock for the World T20 squad, and 'The Duke' is set to play the first match against New Zealand on Friday after featuring in all three T20s in the recent tour of South Africa, one of only Australian six players to do so.

Driving Hastings is a disappointing first crack at international cricket, which ended in a sole Test match against the Proteas in December 2012.

Back fit and healthy, Hastings is hell bent on not letting history repeat.

"I just want to try and play at the top level for as long as I can," Hastings said. 

"I don’t think I was as good as I could have been when I got an opportunity earlier. 

"Back then I could have made that spot mine for four or five years but I didn’t take that opportunity. 

"So now I’m really focused on trying to stay in there and keep bowling well. 

"I think that’s the main thing, and as long as the body is OK, I can’t see why that wouldn’t happen, on a personal point of view anyway. 

"Obviously there’s selection and different points of view on who should be in the side. 

"But as long as I feel I keep delivering what I can, then I’ll be happy."

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There's no shortage of limited-overs cricket in 2016, and Hastings wants to be a part of all of it despite some big names set to return from injury.

"Hopefully I can make that West Indies tour (in June), I’d love to be on that," he said. 

"There’s a lot of one-day cricket coming up this year, so if I can try and stay fit and have my breaks where I can. 

"There’s a little break after the West Indies tour, obviously there’s a Test tour in Sri Lanka and then the one-dayers at the back end, and then back in South Africa for five one-dayers.

"There’s a lot of one-day cricket, a lot of white-ball cricket so hopefully – I know the guys are coming back, (Mitch) Starc and (Pat) Cummins will be back and (James) Pattinson will probably be fit as well.

"But who knows. Hopefully I can just keep doing what I’m doing and keep delivering and hopefully I can have a spot for a little while."

While Starc, Cummins and Pattinson can all hit 150kph, Hastings' bowling speed as increased from mid-130kph to be clocked in the high-140kph zone in the South Africa.

Hastings says the jump in velocity could be the result of consistent cricket over the past two seasons, for Victoria, the Melbourne Stars and English county club Durham. 

"I just feel, not super fit off it (playing consistently), but I’m 'cricket fit' at the moment," he said.

"It's just one of those things that you get in a rhythm and for me it’s just about trying to hit the crease as hard as I can and just have a lot of energy on the ball, because I think that’s when I play my best cricket. 

"You’ll see sometimes I’ll run in and I’ll be a bit slower or something like that and the body is a bit stiff and sore and that’s when I get whacked around a little bit. 

"For me it’s just trying to hit the crease as hard as I possibly can and get that energy at the crease and just use variations where I can, but that’s the key – try and hit it (the pitch) hard."