Australia coach Matthew Mott is confident skipper Meg Lanning's shoulder will be able to hold up to the rigours of a six-week World Cup campaign.
Lanning was a surprise omission from the side that beat Pakistan in Leicester on Wednesday due to what was described by Cricket Australia as 'a chronic shoulder injury.'
Team officials played down the significance of the problem after the thumping 159-run win.
However, Mott admitted the world's No.1 batswoman has been suffering since arriving in the UK last month despite smashing a brilliant career-best 152 not out against Sri Lanka last week.
The Victoria skipper has been nursing the injury for over a year and is only able to throw the ball underarm, but is expected to play against England on Sunday.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
"We've been managing her for the last couple of months, the shoulder's been giving her a bit of grief," Mott said.
"We're taking it game by game in terms of management.
"We'll give her a couple of days off training still, then as we lead into England she'll get back into training and we'll see how she pulls up.
"It's game by game. We'll try and get her up for England and then if things go our way there might be an opportunity to give her another rest."
"It is quite painful, so the less we can aggravate that the better."
In a surprising move Rachael Haynes, in her first appearance of the tournament, skippered the side against Pakistan ahead of vice-captain Alex Blackwell.
But Mott said the decision was taken six weeks ago in Brisbane.
"Back when we were in Australia we assessed all of our options, we had some really good candidates," he said.
"We feel that Alex Blackwell in particular is an outstanding vice-captain who has done a great job over a long period of time.
"We felt that Rachael was very similar in her style to Meg, and that leadership model was something that we wanted to keep together."
Mott also pinpointed Haynes as a long-term skipper should Lanning be sidelined for a significant amount of time.
"One of the reasons we got her back into the squad was her leadership and what she brings to the team," he said.
"I think she's going to be a captain of the future, we have to play things by ear with Meg and how long she can keep persisting with this shoulder injury.
"We spoke to Alex six weeks ago and of course she wanted to be captain but the way she's handled the situation's been exceptional, she's an ultimate team player."
