Australian captain Michael Clarke has defied the odds and made a surprising comeback on the second day of the Adelaide Test.
Clarke, in visible pain and moving gingerly, walked out to the middle with Steve Smith at the start of the day’s play – with Australia resuming at 6/354.
Clarke reinjured his chronic back injury yesterday after pulling out of a pull shot against Ishant Sharma yesterday. He suffered crippling back spasms and retired hurt on 60no.
The Australian medical team worked extensively on Clarke overnight to try and get him fit for today.
Team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said “the doc’s been sorting him out with some medication and he also had an injection yesterday in the local hospital…we’re trying to alleviate the muscle spasms and other things that cause pain and make sure we give him the best possible chance to be able to bat.”
After a light net session before play on the second day, Clarke made the decision to play on.
The injury is unrelated to his left hamstring problems and Kountouris stated that it looks like a relapse of “the significant back injury” that kept him out of the Champions trophy tournament 18 months ago.
Clarke has looked to be in a significant amount of pain since restarting his innings, moving with a limited range of motion and even shouting out in pain after attempting a pull shot of Ishant Sharma in the 94th over.
Still, he is moving closer and closer towards a century and seems determined to build a big partnership with Steve Smith.
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.
As wife Alyssa Healy watches on, Mitchell Starc was back in form, taking three wickets in an over including the dangerous Tim David, to…
Joe Root was showing some brotherly love, giving his younger sibling Billy a chance in their county match.
Australia have reclaimed top spot in the ICC's Test rankings, replacing India. Despite not playing since winning 2-0 in New Zealand in March, Pat…
Yashasvi Jaiswal was looking comfortable at 67 off 40, until this moment when he hit the ball into his own stumps!
The Aussie made his 50 off 37 balls, for his fourth half-century of the season as his Sunrisers Hyderabad went on to beat Rajasthan…
Insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. This quote is often attributed to Albert Einstein, but nobody knows if he…
