Clarke confident of making India tour

Sep 19, 2013

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Sydney: Captain Michael Clarke is confident the chronic back problem that has hampered him for years will not keep him out of Australia's upcoming one-day series in India.
Clarke arrived back in Sydney late Wednesday after a gruelling England tour that saw Australia humbled 3-0 in the Test series before they bounced back to win the one-day international series 2-1.
His back flared up again before the final ODI in Southampton and Clarke said he would consult team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris and probably undergo scans, but remained hopeful he could go to India.
"No doubt it's quite stiff and sore," he told reporters at Sydney airport.
"But I'll be guided by the experts on what I need to do now to try and get myself as fit as I can be.
"I would certainly like to go and continue to play. I'm enjoying my cricket at the moment."
"It was a good win for us in the ODI series and we need to keep that momentum going," he added. "The last couple of weeks were a good start and (I) hope we can keep that going in India."
Australia are due to play seven ODIs and one Twenty20 international in India. The T20 game, which kicks off the tour, is on October 10 in Rajkot.
The squad is yet to be announced but The Sydney Morning Herald said veteran wicketkeeper Brad Haddin was in line for a recall after Matthew Wade had a lean tour of England.
Haddin, 35, was brought back into the Test side in place of Wade for the Ashes to serve as Clarke's vice-captain and he broke Rod Marsh's 30-year-old record for the most dismissals in a series, but he was not in the one-day team.
Before the final Test at the Oval he signalled a desire to play in the 2015 World Cup in Australia.
Clarke insisted a lot of positives came out of the England tour, despite the Ashes disappointment. But he would not be drawn on where Australia needed to improve for the return series starting in November.
"I don't think it's right to go into specifics, we just have to play better cricket more consistently," he said.
"In patches we played some really good cricket but over a five-Test series you've got to be at your best consistently throughout the whole time and we just didn't quite do that."

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