Australian captain Michael Clarke has been ruled out of the ongoing 5-match ODI series against South Africaafter re-injuring his dodgy left hamstring during the 1st ODI at Perth yesterday. After being sent in to bat by the South Africans, Clarke came to the crease with the score reading 2/94, and would’ve been eager to get some runs under his belt after a poor tour of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). But his stay was cut short on 11 by Dale Steyn, after his attempted pull shot found the glove and lobbed behind to Quinton de Kock. He wasn’t able to take the field during South Africa’s batting innings, as a result of which George Bailey deputized for the 33-year old.
"Early in my innings I took off for a run and just felt it grab," Clarke said at the time. "I've got my fingers crossed that it's not that bad. I've had a long stint of rehab trying to get it strong and unfortunately it's come back again, so that is not positive."
Steve Smith has been named as Clarke’s replacement in the playing XI for tomorrow’s ODI, while Bailey will continue leading in the Australian captain’s absence.
While Australia will definitely miss Clarke’s solidity in the middle-order as well as his astute captaincy skills in this one-day series, what will undoubtedly be a bigger concern is that the Test series against India is just 3 weeks away, with the 1st Test starting at Brisbane on December 4.
Clarke had scans in Perth on Saturday before flying back to Sydney to receive further treatment on his injury. He will consult specialists over the coming days before a diagnosis is reached. This is his 3rd hamstring injury since just August of this year, raising serious doubts about Clarke’s long-term cricketing future.
“We’ll adapt if Clarke is unavailable for World Cup”
With a doubt hanging over the right-hander’s availability for the upcoming World Cup as well, Australia’s hopes of winning on home soil, perhaps, take a severe beating. Coach Darren Lehmann, however, said that injuries are a part and parcel of sport, and they’ll going into every game with full faith in their abilities come the quadrennial event.
"It's never easy when you're losing one of your best players, but that's part and parcel of sport these days,"Lehmann said on Saturday.
"Players have got to be adaptable.
"We'd love him there.
"But you can (still) win every game you play (without him).
"With the 11 that go on the field, we have full faith in winning each and every game."
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