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Ellyse Perry is not yet a certain starter for Australia's World Cup semi-final with West Indies on Wednesday and must prove her fitness from back spasms.
- Perry has not trained since she left the field in the group stage match against South Africa
- The all-rounder took three top-order wickets the last time Australia met the West Indies
- The winner of the game will play England or South Africa in the final
The ICC's women's player of the decade left Australia's group stage win over South Africa last Tuesday after bowling just three overs.
Perry has not trained since, and will return to the Basin Reserve nets on Monday afternoon hopeful of showing her readiness.
"Each day we've assessed it, seen where it's at, and it definitely has been improving, which is really nice," she said.
"It's going really well, but obviously just need to make sure that I'm in the best possible spot to be able to contribute, if I was to play.
"We'll do a couple more things at training in the next next few days. And if I get there, I do. Fingers crossed."
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Asked how she would prove her fitness, Perry showed her playful side.
"I guess I need to do some cricket," she said.
The availability of the all-rounder against West Indies will be crucial for Australia, given she was best afield in their group stage contest.
Perry took three top order wickets to finish with 3-22, including the scalp of dangerwoman Deandra Dottin as Australia contained the Windies to 131 and chased the total inside 31 overs.
The 31-year-old said she'd never experienced spasms in her career before, downplaying the ailment as "not hugely serious".
"It came on really quickly. Because of that there's no longstanding history with back issues or anything chronic," she said.
Perry famously missed the T20 World Cup final, played in front of a bumper 86,174 fans at the MCG, when a hamstring injury brought her withdrawal from that tournament.
This time around she dodged questions whether she might play simply as a batter or even rest from Wednesday's semi-final in the hope of being fresher for a potential final.
"I don't think you can have that approach to World Cup games," Perry said.
"You have to play each game. That's the most important thing at the time rather than casting your mind ahead."
The winner of the Australia-West Indies match will play England or South Africa, who play in the second semi on Thursday, in Sunday's tournament finale.
AAP