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Clarke targetting World Cup comeback

17th December, 2014
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No “magic number” can be provided for Michael Clarke’s comeback date.

But Australian physio Alex Kountouris was confident the recovering national skipper would be up to his old tricks at the 2015 World Cup after undergoing successful hamstring surgery.

Clarke went under the knife on Tuesday, having badly torn his right hamstring on day five of the thrilling first Test between Australia and India.

The 33-year-old will not play any part in the ongoing four-Test series, but is desperate to lead Australia in the one-day tournament that starts on February 14.

Kountouris on Wednesday left the door open for Clarke despite no return date in sight.

“There is no magic number that ends the rehab – he’ll just have to progress through each stage,” he said.

“(But) our aim is for him to take part in the World Cup so that will be the goal.

“He’s going to do the rehab with that intent and we’ll only know that in the coming weeks when we know how he is recovering.”

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Asked if one day cricket’s more explosive nature put Clarke at risk of yet another hamstring injury, Kountouris said: “It’s hard to say.

“It depends on what he does, where he fields, how long he bats for.

“He played Test cricket and he broke down, all formats are hard.”

But Kountouris said the surgery would minimise the risk of it recurring.

“Speaking to the surgeon everything went really well,” he said.

“He found what he expected to find, there were no surprises, and he’s managed to do a good repair and from that he’s very confident that Michael is going to make a good recovery.”

Shane Warne had earlier hailed Clarke’s hamstring surgery as a success, saying Australia’s captain was now better placed to take part in the World Cup.

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“It was the best result humanly possible they could have had for the operation,” Warne told the Nine Network after speaking with his good friend Clarke post-surgery.

“He was in good spirits and looking forward to trying to make a good comeback.

“It’s a better result than expected.

“Previously the World Cup was a long shot, now he’s more of a chance given how well the operation went.”

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