Recovering Australia batter Travis Head has joined the squad but is likely to miss Wednesday's World Cup clash with Netherlands, the team said on Sunday.

Head fractured his left hand during their South Africa tour last month and missed Australia's first four matches in the World Cup. The left-hander had his first training session of the tournament at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Saturday.

"The stiffness and some of the pain you can deal with as long as I'm not doing any damage to it"," Head said about his recovery process.

Head remained optimistic about his chances of playing against the Netherlands but chief selector George Bailey advised caution.

"It can be a six to eight-week injury," Bailey told reporters on Saturday. "Clearly the whole point of having him and carrying him to this point is not to then risk it by bringing him back early.

"If it works out that it's the Dutch game, great. If it's a little bit further on, then that's okay."

TAGS