Cricket Australia to Probe Michael Clarke Selection Controversy
Cricket Australia wanted Michael Clarke to prove his fitness in the tour match against India. Clarke however opted out of it and according to Australian press reports, will be made to sit out of the 1st Test starting December 4.
On a collision course with Cricket Australia over his fitness, injured skipper Michael Clarke has been reportedly ruled out of the opening Test against India, following his failure to recover well to play in the two-day tour game in Adelaide starting on Friday. (Also read: Indian batsmen slap fifties galore in drawn tour match vs Cricket Australia XI)
Cricket Australia had made it clear that Clarke will have to play the two-day tour match in Adelaide to prove his fitness for the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar series at Gabba, starting December 4.
However, Clarke, who is recovering from a hamstring injury, ruled himself out for the Adelaide game but said he is looking forward to play in a Sydney grade match on Saturday to prove his fitness.
Clarke's contradictory public statements didn't go down well with the selectors and Cricket Australia is likely to announce today that the Aussie skipper would not be playing either Adelaide tour match or the Sydney grade game.
According to News Corp Australia, Cricket Australia had released a statement after consulting the medical staff which appeared to have ruled Clarke out of the opening Test if he was unable to play in the India tour game in Adelaide.
"Should Michael play the tour match and recover well, the selectors have said he will take his place in the Test side.
"If he is not able to get up for the CA XI game, and given his history with this recurring injury, he will be ruled out of any cricket this week and the first Test and our focus will shift to getting him fit to play the second Test in Adelaide commencing on Friday, 12 December."
Meanwhile, Fairfax Media has reported that CA chief executive James Sutherland will seek a 'please explain' from Clarke on why he contradicted the selectors yesterday.
"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," Sutherland said.
"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.