West undergoes successful surgery

The Australian badly broke his wrist in a crash at Phillip Island in 2002. Although that injury healed, the damage led to some misshapen muscles where his ligaments had shortened, which needed further operations.

A plate with four screws was fitted inside his wrist and it is that piece of metal that was removed last week.

His physio guru Uli Amberger is happy with how the surgery went.

"The operation went really well," says Amberger. "There's been hardly any swelling and, from a physiotherapy point of view, that means we can get on with treatment straight away.

"We're just at the stage whereby we're starting to get Anthony to move the joint gently in all directions: working on mobility and strength. And the earlier shortening of the ligaments means his forearm extension isn't perfect , so we're dealing with that too."

West reported no problems though.

"My wrist hardly hurts at all," he explained. "The hospital was great, more like a hotel, the food wasn't too bad and nor, frankly, were the nurses."