OLLIE Westbury is making good progress after recovering from a broken thumb.

The promising Worcestershire opener was to spend five months in Australia playing grade cricket for Scarborough where Ed Barnard was last winter.

But the England under 19 ace returned home before Christmas after getting injured in a game.

He saw a specialist and underwent an X-ray but the thumb has healed naturally with Westbury stepping up his rehab with a view to resuming full training by the end of January.

Worcestershire head of science and medicine Ben Davies said: “Ollie was meant to play out in Australia for the whole winter and fractured the bottom part of his thumb when he was fielding in a grade cricket game.

“When we saw the X-ray we thought we had better get him back, have it X-rayed and checked by our doctor and a specialist over here.

“All that has been done and with the amount of time that has lapsed it means it has healed nicely and we don’t need to do anything with it (regarding surgery).

“He is just slowly getting back into cricket and is hitting balls again, getting the feel of a bat, and we will just gradually bring him back into full fielding.

“He did some catching this week and by the end of January will be fit to take part in everything.

“It naturally healed in a good position but we still feel we made the right decision to bring him back.”