Michael Clarke hopeful of swift hamstring strain recovery – Cricket News Update
The Australian Captain, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 at Melbourne.
Suffering from a hamstring strain, which occurred during the first Test against the touring Lankans, Clarke was unable to resume his second innings at 57* in Hobart. However, taking overnight treatments preceding the 4th and 5th days,
the 31-year-old was able to take the field and led his side to their first home victory this season (defeating the tourists by 137 runs).
“I know I'm in great hands with (team physio) Alex (Kountouris) and I know how great a physio he is,” shared Clarke.
After scoring a dazzling 74 in the first innings followed by a 57* in the second (before getting retired hurt), Clarke reclaimed the top spot on http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 batsmen’s rankings, released earlier this week.
However, the injury will hamper the skipper’s training and preparation ahead of the second clash.
“Obviously my preparation will be a little bit different to the lead-up to this Test match but I've done a fair bit of batting throughout the summer so I'm confident,” said Clarke.
Nonetheless, if the skipper fails to recover in time, the right-handed batsman, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Usman-Khawaja-c2729, will make a comeback to the side as his replacement.
The 26-year-old Khawaja was named in the 12-man squad for the upcoming Boxing Day Test. Of Pakistani origin, the right-handed batsman has had a perfect season this year (Standing at No.5 in terms of most runs scored) in the domestic circuit. Earlier, Khawaja
was also in contention to replace the veteran, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Phillip-Hughes-c2185 as the preferred choice.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746. Scoring 4 double-hundreds in 2012, the Australian Captain is just 55 runs short of equalling Ponting’s record of 1,544 Test runs in a calendar year.
Eager to surpass Ponting, Clarke is confident that he will recover in time to avail this opportunity.
“I'm really confident that with seven, eight days' turnaround (the injury will heal). I'll be giving myself every opportunity, that's for sure,” said the skipper.
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