Injured Australian wicketkeeper Tim Paine has strongly denied claims he will not play cricket again, insisting that his finger is healing fast and that he is confident he would deliver his best once he is back on track.

"It's just plainly untrue," Paine said yesterday in response to reports that he would not play again. "Everyone who knows what's going on with my finger is very happy with it. It's probably going a little better than expected," The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Paine, as saying.

"Even in the last week the movement in the finger has been much better than it has been at this stage after surgery before and the size of my finger is probably as normal as it's been for 15 months. I think that is where a lot of people's opinions have come from, they've probably seen it in the last six months where it probably didn't even look like a finger at times," he added.

At the time of his operation, Cricket Australia had said Paine would be sidelined for an additional four months, but the 27-year-old is adamant he will not rush his return this time.

"The main thing is I am going to play again. What we've done in the past is let the injury dictate when we think it should be right and I have trained and prepared to be right by then, whereas this time, with my history of coming back too early, we're going the other way, making sure the finger is completely healed and ready to go before I even attempt to play cricket.

"I'm more than confident I will be able to come back and play the role I played before." (ANI)