The Australian star’s battle to overcome major knee surgery to be fit for the World Cup came crashing down yesterday.

The Border star ruled herself out of the campaign in Turkey to have surgery on a hip injury that has hampered her recovery.

“Put simply, we just ran out of time,” Jackson said.

“Further, a problem with my hip has continued to worsen and it’s now impacting on my rehab.

“After scans this week the medical advice was to operate.

“I’ll be back with the great, supportive team at the Australian Institute of Sport in just two weeks and preparing to play for the University of Canberra Capitals in November.

“I can’t wait to be finally back on court — I’m actually fit and strong so the hard work will not be lost.”

Just three weeks ago the Albury star had backed herself to be fit in time for the world cup and the WNBL season after running for the first time since knee surgery.

Jackson, 33, cleared a hurdle by powering out a few kilometres on the anti-gravity treadmill at the Australian Institute of Sport and declared her recovery from the February operation was on track.

Opals head coach Brendan Joyce said he was as disappointed for Jackson as he was for the team.

“I truly feel for her right now, I know what it means to her to represent Australia and I’ve seen how hard she’s worked through training and rehab,” he said.

“As a team, we’re obviously disappointed not to have her with us for the world championship campaign but her health is top priority and we’re all fully supportive of that.

“Lauren can’t be easily replaced and it’s not a matter of one person filling the void — everyone will have to share the load — but we’ve had 15 months of intensive preparation so I feel good about where the team is at.”