Published: Nov 25, 2014, 06:31 PM (IST)
Edited: Nov 25, 2014, 06:31 PM (IST)
Nov 25, 2014
Australia‘s Michael Clarke could be asked to explain his comments following his recent outburst against Cricket Australia (CA). James Sutherland, chief-executive of CA has asked the captain to explain his comments that could also lead to him losing out on the captaincy.
It was reported by Sydney Morning Herald that Clarke was about to pull out of the first tests against India early on Tuesday morning. However the incident following Phillip Hughes‘s critical injury during the Sheffield Shield match after he got hit of a bouncer while playing for New South Wales against South Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) has put everything on hold as it was he who was considered to be a potential replacement for Clarke.
It was also reported that officials are unhappy with Clarke and his decision to run his own fitness race in an attempt to make a comeback against India in the first Test from December 4 despite of the hamstring injury which tends to re-occur.
CA wanted Clarke to be fit before the Sheffield Shield game on Tuesday, but instead decided to extend the deadline allowing him to participate in the two-day practice game against India. But, Clarke later confirmed on Monday night that he would not be participating in the warm-up game and instead would play for his club-team, Western Suburbs.
Sutherland said to Fairfax Media, “I will speak to Michael and others who have been involved in the process to make sure I understand where these things have gone awry.”
“It’s not really appropriate for me to go into any more detail. All I can say is I am concerned that there are some mixed messages coming out of Cricket Australia in the last 24 hours or so and I want to understand why things have fallen off the rails a bit there,” he added.
It was reported on Monday that Clarke was named in the squad for the first Test against India at Brisbane, but his participation was dependent on his performance in the two-day warm-up match at Adelaide.
“What they have said is that he needs to start running, and if he doesn’t start running by, I think, Wednesday, then I think we can safely assume that he won’t be playing the Test match,” said Marsh.
Clarke wanted the selectors to be faithful and patient with him as it was the first in 107 Tests he was massing out despite suffering a number of injuries in the recent past.
Also reported was that Clarke just wanted to play the warm-up game against India, but after his physio Alex Kountouris insisted his doubt on him making it to the game, he started targeting club cricket. He is now eying the second Test in Adelaide from December 12, however CA could still ask him to play a warm-up game before it.
