T HIS season's Scottish Cup is sponsored by bookmakers William Hill.

If Scott Brown were a gambling man he would say his chances of playing in the final were better than 50-50.

The Celtic captain was an unusual choice to promote ticket sales for their home game against Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Sunday given that he has no prospect of playing in it, but the operation he underwent a month ago appears to have gone well. The next couple of weeks, in which he will step up his training work, will determine whether he is right to feel optimistic about being available to face his previous club, Hibernian, in the cup final on Sunday, May 26.

That is more than five weeks away and the groin problem which required surgery has prevented him playing for the past five-and-a-half, since lasting 80 minutes of the home defeat against Juventus in the Champions League on February 12. In all, Brown has appeared in fewer than half of his team's league games so far this season, only 15 out of 33, and in only 30 of their 53 games in all competitions.

So far his running work has been restricted to straight lines. Over the next couple of weeks he will begin to add twists and turns, and hitting balls, hoping that there is no painful reaction in the groin. "The rehab is going really well but the next couple of weeks are going to be huge to see whether I can make the cup final or not. Hopefully my chances will be better than 50-50. Next week I start changing direction when I'm running. I'll try pinging balls and see how that feels. All being well I'll then be able to join in with the other lads for bits and bobs in training, while taking it slowly. Next week is key, though. I should know by the end of next week if I'm going to be okay in time. It's good that I've got a target. There's no point in pushing myself for a meaningless game but I've got a cup final which is obviously a huge game for us."

Brown has been in the wars this season. Previously he had been troubled by a hip problem and then the issue with his groin. "I knew I needed the operation, I was just trying to play as often as possible. The gaffer played me against Juventus at home and I kind of realised that was the end of me. Then the gaffer himself said that I should go for the op. I waited a couple of weeks for the inflammation to go away and then I had the op. I'm feeling good now, there's no pain.

"The surgeon said everything had gone as well as possible. I guess that's good news but I won't really know until I go out on the field, play 90 minutes, change direction and take some hits. Good news is never really good news."

Celtic have a couple of midfield vacancies for the cup final, of course, after the suspensions incurred by Victor Wanyama and Biram Kayal in the semi-final victory over Dundee United. An additional incentive for Brown is the identity of the other finalists and particularly one of the midfielders he could face at Hampden. Brown had five seasons in the Hibernian first team before Celtic bought him for £4.4m in 2007 and one of his big pals at Easter Road was Kevin Thomson, who is back there for the remainder of this campaign after spells at Rangers and Middlesbrough. The other game on his schedule is Scotland's World Cup qualifier in Croatia, 12 days after the cup final on June 7.

"I definitely want to be involved against Croatia. My two main aims are to get back into the Scotland squad and to make the cup final. If I can do both I'd be delighted but if I can't make the cup final I won't be making Scotland.

"Hibs and Kevin making it to the final is an extra motivation but, let's be honest, whoever it was I'd have wanted to play. It will be a hard one for Hibs too after 100-odd years without winning the cup. They were there last year and I went to the final. It was a hard one to take for them.

"It's good that Kevin's back playing and good that he's at Hibs; he's doing the club a turn by coming back. Playing without getting paid is obviously going to help them. He's a big Hibs fan as well. Getting to the cup final will mean a lot to him."

It would mean a lot to them both.