JOHN Crawley is ready for his first one-day game of the season - after a swift recovery from the most bizarre injury of his career.

Hampshire batsman Crawley is expected to return to the side tomorrow in the C & G Trophy third round for the first time since suffering a freak knee injury during the first championship game of the season against Durham.

The 31-year-old expected to be out for at least four weeks after having a knee operation on May 5. But he was given the all clear in time to make his comeback in this week's second XI championship match against Sussex at the Rose Bowl.

Now he is preparing to play against Gloucestershire - six weeks after a routine slide on the Rose Bowl outfield led to the loss of nearly THREE pints of blood over ten days.

Crawley said: "It's the most bizarre injury I've ever suffered and we knew straight away that it wasn't going to be simple. There was a big spur of bone about half the size of a thumb round the back of the knee which cut deep into an artery, which took a week to ten days to stop bleeding.

"Once the bleeding stopped we had more of an idea of what was causing the problem - the bone was caught on the inside hamstring tendon and cutting into the artery when I was moving.

"It all stemmed from a regulation slide on the second morning of the match against Durham. It was the most simple movement but something had weakened around the back of the knee and I ended up losing a litre and half of blood

"The specialist had never seen anything like it but the knee's now very good and I'm very pleased to have had such a quick rehabilitation. To be ready to play in just two and a half weeks is better than I could have hoped for.

"It's down to a mixture of a very good job by the surgeon, a lot of good work from Paddy Farhart and some hard work from myself.

Crawley was operated on my knee specialist Dr Jonathan Bell at Wimbledon's Parkside Hospital while Hampshire were beating Cheshire to earn them tomorrow's trip to Bristol in the last 16 of the C & G Trophy.

He added: "I hoped I would be ready for this game but on the day of the operation the surgeon thought the best case scenario would see me getting back into it in four weeks.

"But since the operation I haven't had many problems at all and am two weeks ahead of schedule, which is excellent."

Crawley has had to watch Hampshire's dream start to the season in frustration after captaining the county with dignity last year.

"It's been great to see the guys do really well but it's hard when you're not involved yourself," added the former England batsman, who enjoyed plenty of one day knockout success during his time with Lancashire.

"This is a huge game, we can't afford to lose. To win a one day competition requires good, solid aggressive cricket all the way through the side."

Hampshire will take a squad of 13 to Bristol. Paul Terry has added Crawley, Chris Tremlett and Dimitri Mascarenhas to the side that beat Gloucestershire last week, while UJames Tomlinson has returned to Cardiff.

Hampshire (from): Hamblin, Kenway, Crawley, Dighton, Kendall, Pothas, Mascarenhas, Warne, Udal, Tremlett, Mullally, Prittipaul, Taylor.