Cricket-Australia paceman Pattinson a doubt for Champions Trophy

April 4 (Reuters) - James Pattinson is the latest name to be added to Australia's growing list of Champions Trophy injury doubts with the fast bowler needing abdominal surgery for an existing condition on Friday.

Captain Michael Clarke (lower back) is already facing a race against time to be fit for Australia's defence of the June 6-23 tournament in England, while injury-prone fast bowler Pat Cummins (upper back) appears set miss out completely.

Pattinson, who turns 23 next month, was undergoing the surgery in Melbourne and was expected to return to training in about a month, Cricket Australia (CA) said in a statement on Thursday.

"James Pattinson will be having surgery tomorrow for a non-cricket related medical condition in his lower abdominal region that has been troubling him during the latter part of the recently concluded tour of India," CA chief medical officer Justin Paoloni said.

"James has undergone tests and consulted specialists since returning from India, and it was felt that surgery is absolutely necessary at this time.

"The recovery time will be determined once the surgery is completed but James is expected to return to training in approximately four weeks.

"His preparation for the Ashes is not expected to be affected but his availability for the ICC Champions Trophy will be determined at a later stage."

Australia will remain in England for the Ashes series starting on July 10 with Nottingham's Trent Bridge hosting the first of five tests. (Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; Editing by John O'Brien)

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Cricket-NZ seamer Bracewell cuts foot on glass, doubt for test

March 4 (Reuters) - New Zealand seamer Doug Bracewell is a doubt for the first test against England, which starts in Dunedin on Wednesday, after cutting his foot on glass when cleaning up after a house party.

"He's got a cut on the inside of his right foot at the moment," a New Zealand Cricket spokesman said on Monday.

"He's walking, they don't know too much about the injury at this stage.

"It'll be decided tomorrow as to whether he'll play."

The 22-year-old would miss training at Dunedin's University Oval on Monday, but no other player had been called in as cover, the spokesman added.

Following Dunedin, New Zealand host England in the second test in Wellington from March 14, with the third and final test in Auckland starting March 22.

(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)

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Motor racing-Ferrari doubt they will be fastest in Australia

LONDON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Ferrari are unlikely to have the fastest car when the Formula One season starts in Australia next month but they hope to be close enough for Fernando Alonso to make the difference, according to team principal Stefano Domenicali.

"The situation at the moment seems to be alright, alright with the programme that we have," the Italian told Reuters at a Motor Sport magazine Hall of Fame event in London late on Monday.

"The target is to be close together with the leading cars...I would be very surprised if it was the quickest (car) at the first race. But if we are all close together in a couple of tenths, then the season is really long and everything is possible."

Ferrari started last season with a car that was tricky to drive and some way off the pace but Alonso kept them in the hunt with some remarkable drives while the team pulled out all the stops to narrow the performance gap.

By mid-season, the Spaniard had a comfortable lead in the championship that was then eroded in the latter half by a resurgent Sebastian Vettel who reeled off a string of wins for Red Bull.

The end result was Vettel's third successive title but the German and Alonso were still fighting for it all the way to the final race in Brazil.

Domenicali said the situation was very different from February last year, when Brazilian Felipe Massa first tested the F2012 and rang Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo to tell him the bad news.

"It's another world," said Domenicali. "It's a totally different situation but we cannot underestimate that everyone is doing a good job, and as far as we can see from the tests I don't see a lot of changes in respect of what we saw at the end (of last year)."

Eight drivers from four teams - Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Lotus - have been fastest over the eight days of testing so far although the Red Bull drivers have also sounded happy with their car's performance.

Domenicali said the biggest challenge all teams faced in the first few races would be the new-version Pirelli tyres, designed to degrade quicker and create more pitstops.

"We need to make sure that we are close to the best car and then the team and drivers have to make the difference," he added. "In Australia it is not the end of the championship, it's just the start. We need to be careful and stay cool."

The season starts in Melbourne on March 17. (Editing by Clare Fallon)

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Ferrari doubt they will be fastest in Australia

LONDON (Reuters) - Ferrari are unlikely to have the fastest car when the Formula One season starts in Australia next month but they hope to be close enough for Fernando Alonso to make the difference, according to team principal Stefano Domenicali.

"The situation at the moment seems to be alright, alright with the programme that we have," the Italian told Reuters at a Motor Sport magazine Hall of Fame event in London late on Monday.

"The target is to be close together with the leading cars...I would be very surprised if it was the quickest (car) at the first race. But if we are all close together in a couple of tenths, then the season is really long and everything is possible."

Ferrari started last season with a car that was tricky to drive and some way off the pace but Alonso kept them in the hunt with some remarkable drives while the team pulled out all the stops to narrow the performance gap.

By mid-season, the Spaniard had a comfortable lead in the championship that was then eroded in the latter half by a resurgent Sebastian Vettel who reeled off a string of wins for Red Bull.

The end result was Vettel's third successive title but the German and Alonso were still fighting for it all the way to the final race in Brazil.

Domenicali said the situation was very different from February last year, when Brazilian Felipe Massa first tested the F2012 and rang Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo to tell him the bad news.

"It's another world," said Domenicali. "It's a totally different situation but we cannot underestimate that everyone is doing a good job, and as far as we can see from the tests I don't see a lot of changes in respect of what we saw at the end (of last year)."

Eight drivers from four teams - Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Lotus - have been fastest over the eight days of testing so far although the Red Bull drivers have also sounded happy with their car's performance.

Domenicali said the biggest challenge all teams faced in the first few races would be the new-version Pirelli tyres, designed to degrade quicker and create more pitstops.

"We need to make sure that we are close to the best car and then the team and drivers have to make the difference," he added. "In Australia it is not the end of the championship, it's just the start. We need to be careful and stay cool."

The season starts in Melbourne on March 17.

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