By Scott Heinrich BBC Sport Online

Australia are confident Shane Warne will be fit for the World Cup, but doubts remain that the tournament will come too soon for the star spinner.

Team doctors and specialists are talking positively, but expectations have a habit of going unfulfilled.

One need look no further than the injury crisis that has blighted England's Ashes tour to appreciate the perils of placing too much stock into the opinion of medics.

So while there was little doubt Stuart MacGill would step into the breach for the remaining two Ashes Tests, the issue of the World Cup is not so cut and dried.

MacGill is world-class - but in one-dayers?

Chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said it was Australia's policy to pick the best side available to them.

"We've certainly got a lot of thinking to do," the former Test spinner said.

"We pick the best team - it's not a matter of giving someone an opportunity for the sake of it.

"We'll be picking the next best spinner."

MacGill, also a leggie, has always been regarded the second-best spinner in Australia.

He has performed with distinction throughout a stop-start 17-Test career that would have been far fuller had he not been of Warne's generation.

But he has not been considered Warne's understudy in the one-day arena, playing only three matches in the green and gold of Australia.

Expensive

He has paid for his overtly attacking style, with selectors considering him too uneconomical for one-day cricket.

Though MacGill's average in one-dayers for New South Wales and Australia A is an excellent 21.7, his concession rate of nearly five runs an over is poor.

Since Warne made his limited-overs debut in 1993, he has missed just 42 of the 233 matches Australia have played.

He has become expert in keeping the flow of runs in mid-innings to a minimum while still remaining a wicket-taking threat.

When Warne has been absent in the past, Australia have made do with the likes of part-timers Mark Waugh, Michael Bevan and Darren Lehmann.

We, as a group of selectors, have several options Trevor Hohns Australia selector

Each has done well at various times, but Waugh is now out of the equation and anyway Warne has never been missing for anything like the entirety of a World Cup before.

Australia must now decide if they are prepared to defend their title with part-time trundlers in place of the greatest spinner leg-spinner of all time.

If Australia want to take a specialist spinner, possibilities include Victorian rookie Cameron White, West Aussie Brad Hogg and Queensland off-spinner Nathan Hauritz.

They are all inexperienced but Hogg got the nod for the VB Series and is probably front-running with Nathan Hauritz.

But filling in on the odd occasion is one thing, shouldering the responsibility throughout a World Cup is something else entirely.

It seems selectors have made their mind up about MacGill, but if they are to stay true to their 'best team' policy they may be tempted to reconsider their position.