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The message is muddy but the outcome is clear: If Clarke's fit he should play

Michael Clarke's willingness to switch things up in attack has Australia on top. (AFP PHOTO/William WEST)
Roar Guru
20th November, 2014
4

On Thursday morning, Australian cricket team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris explained to the waiting media that Michael Clarke will not miss the whole Test series against India, nor is in danger of missing the World Cup due to his current injury.

“[Clarke’s injury] is not that dramatic that he’s going to miss the whole summer.”

However, Kountouris further explained that Clarke’s injury situation will have to be constantly monitored, as the hamstring injury is near a tendon, meaning it is quite complex, especially considering the chronic back injury he has had from a young age.

“The real risks for him are he’s got a back injury, it puts a lot of pressure on his hamstrings, he’s an older athlete and that’s a risk factor.

“He’s had multiple hamstring injuries on both legs. They’re not risk factors we can get rid of.”

Pat Howard, the high-performance manager at Cricket Australia, was more concerned about Clarke’s injury, and seemingly desperate for him to focus on the goal of the World Cup and the Ashes tour against England at the expense of the equally important home Test series against India.

“We are putting the World Cup and Ashes right up there and if he’s right for the Indian Test series so be it.

“I have talked about the priorities and what they are. Sometimes you have got to take a little bit of a long-term and a medium-term picture.

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“If we do this well, we can get extra years out of Michael who is a world-class player, rather than thinking in days and tournaments.”

The chairman of selectors, Rod Marsh, was more optimistic on Sunday night after being told by team doctor Peter Brukner that news was good on Clarke’s injury after Clarke visited a specialist on Sunday morning.

“He saw a guy this morning and I’ve never seen a happier doctor on our team.

“He looked really happy with what’s going to happen, so I’m backing Michael Clarke to play.”

Darren Lehmann didn’t have the slightest inkling on Monday about his captain’s availability or lack of.

“What we are going to do is see how he goes the next couple of days,” said the Australian coach.

“He’s back in Sydney. He’ll see some specialists and speak to Alex, our physio, and work out the plan from there.

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“So until I get confirmation, I’m not going to say he’s in or he’s out.”

We must therefore assume that Clarke will be fit for the opening Test match in Brisbane against India.

However Pat Howard was worried about the prospect of Michael Clarke re-injuring his hamstring again in a short space of time, and continued to push his medium-to-long-term view of Clarke, suggesting that he should have surgery on that troublesome hamstring.

“We’ve seen him rushed back (before) and what we’d hate is for him to play a Test or two and then break down.

“Everything is on the table at this point. We saw Nathan Coulter-Nile go through hamstring surgery and come back in eight weeks, so obviously that is one possibility, yes.

“But we are actually going through having a look at all processes at the moment, and making sure we get player buy-in. It’s important that Michael as the patient believes he is assessing all possible options.”

However, physiotherapist Alex Kountouris, despite conceding that the injury setback was a worry, said that Clarke didn’t return too soon after his previous injury, and explained that another hamstring injury could happen at any time, just like it could for any other player.

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“The first time he runs it could tear in an instant. It’s not a healing thing.

“We make sure he’s running, he’s running hard, he’s running well.

“He’s had multiple [tears]. [The latest tear] is not a good outcome but I don’t think he came back too early.”

Howard needs to stop suggesting what he thinks is the appropriate treatment for certain players to be having, and let the appropriate people – such as the physiotherapist and the team doctor – do their jobs.

Pat, your job description as a high-performance manager is to create the right environment for the team to enable them to produce great performances, and more importantly wins for the team.

It is not your job to suggest that matches or tournaments against certain teams are more important than matches or tournaments against other teams. Every match and tournament is equally as important as the next one. You have shown total disrespect not only for the Indian cricket team, but also the players and staff within the Australian cricket team.

This kind of distraction doesn’t help when you are trying to create a winning culture. Remember Pat Howard, in professional, elite-level sport, winning is the only thing that matters.

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As for the people, including reporters, saying that Michael Clarke is going to be out for an extended period of time, back it up with some information that supports what you are saying, instead of grabbing garbage from an old trash can and expecting it to be the right answer to the question.

It is unnecessary for anyone to come to conclusions when no definitive answers have been revealed.

For me, it seems that Clarke will be close to fully fit in time for the first Test match against India in Brisbane, and if that is the case, it would be very hard to leave him out.

So, stop worrying about what could happen in the future, and focus on the present. Make sure if you are in the Australian cricket team set-up that Clarke is fit and firing as soon as possible.

Clarke will prove the people who thought he was going to be out for the ages totally wrong.

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