Michael Clarke is facing a race against time to prove his fitness ahead of the first Test against India in a fortnight, but his injured hamstring is unlikely to hold him out of Australia’s entire summer fixture.
Australia may still be without Clarke when it hosts India in the first of four Test matches on December 4 according to team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris, who assessed Clarke’s third hamstring injury since August’s tour in Zimbabwe.
“He hasn’t started running, he hasn’t started doing any of the functional things that we want him to do, he’s not able to bat so he’s not ready to play at the moment,” the long-time Australia physio said Thursday.
Kountouris ruled the 33-year-old Clarke out of two upcoming Sheffield Shield fixtures but declared him a chance to suit up in the first Test.
“We’re still hopeful that he might be right for the first Test because that’s two weeks away but we need to review it again next week. He needs to start running and start doing things before we make a decision on whether he’s OK to play.”
Clarke managed to recover from a hamstring complaint in Zimbabwe to play in Australia’s 0-2 series loss to Pakistan in the UAE last month before re-aggravating the injury in the first ODI against South Africa in Perth last Friday. Despite the risk of causing further damage to the hamstring, Clarke is likely to appear sooner rather than later and is expected to be right to go for Australia’s ODI World Cup campaign on home soil in February.
“I’m hopeful he’ll be back for the first Test but we’re still a week away from even considering that,” Kountouris added.
“He (Clarke) thinks the Test is realistic but it’s not a sure thing.
“Unfortunately he could rest now for five months and come back and the first time he runs he could tear his hamstring again.”
Australia will face South Africa in two more ODI fixtures before the series against India gets underway- at the MCG on Friday and at the SCG on Sunday the 23rd.
Photo: Getty Images.
