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Australia's captain Michael Clarke
will take much-needed rest at home, rather than taking up his likely
appointment as captain of the Pune Warriors in the IPL, as the best
remedy for the back and hamstring problems that bedevilled his India
tour.
Clarke underwent scans soon after his arrival in Sydney and ESPNcricinfo
understands these showed that his back trouble was caused not by any
new source but the same degenerative disc that has afflicted him since
his teenage years.
Complaints of hamstring discomfort were also assessed, with no evidence
found of a new injury, rather the accumulated wear of carrying a tender
muscle through the tour after he strained it during the home Test series
against Sri Lanka.
As a result of these dual problems, Clarke has been advised to rest and
then train to strengthen his body rather than linking up with the
Warriors. It has been reported that Clarke may be offered as much as A$2
million to lead the IPL franchise after Yuvraj Singh expressed
reluctance to be captain, but the risk of fouling up an Ashes campaign
that may define his captaincy has been deemed too acute.
"Michael Clarke had scans that confirmed his current lower back injury
is an exacerbation of previous issues he has had with his spine,"
Cricket Australia Chief Medical Officer Justin Paoloni said. "As always,
we need to manage this carefully as there are potentially serious
consequences with further aggravation.
"He still has pain with basic activities and is not back to full
function as yet. He also has a hamstring injury that has been a concern
for most of the summer and will complicate his return.
"Michael is having intensive rehabilitation for both his back and
hamstring but is still 7-10 weeks away from returning to training and
playing. We are confident that it will not affect his Ashes preparation
but will know more over the coming weeks."
On his early return to Sydney following his inability to regain fitness
in time for the fourth Test of an ignominious series on the
subcontinent, Clarke said he would "listen to the experts" regarding his
battered and fatigued body and his IPL participation.
"I'll have scans this week and spend plenty of time with the physio,
fingers crossed it turns out okay," Clarke said. "Sitting down for 12
hours has made it a little bit stiff, but I'm really confident that I'm
in good hands with my physio here in Sydney.
"I'd be silly to make that decision [on the IPL] right now, I think I
need to wait on the results, listen to the experts and then make a plan
from there. I've had my back issues since I was 17 years of age so this
is no different. In regards to my hamstring I hurt it throughout the
Australian summer and it has just lingered on. I haven't had the
opportunity to get that 100% fit due to how much cricket we've had."
The national team's coach Mickey Arthur, the national selector John
Inverarity and the team performance manager Pat Howard have no formal
right to bar a player from participating in the IPL, as the tournament's
span has been defined by Cricket Australia as a leave period. However
they are likely to privately advise various players of their
preferences, as was done last year when Shane Watson was counselled to
stay out of the event.
Daniel Brettig is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets here
Feeds: Daniel Brettig
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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