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Australian win eases Michael Clarke's hamstring pain
Date
November 15, 2014 - 12:49AM
Chloe Saltau
Chief cricket writer for The Age
Michael Clarke's chronic hamstring problems have recurred just one game into his summer, a huge concern for the Australian captain's preparation for the India Test series and the World Cup.
Clarke endured a horror start to his international season in Perth, losing the first round of his much-anticipated battle with South Africa's champion paceman Dale Steyn for 11 and re-injuring his left hamstring when he set off for a run.
The only blessing for Clarke was that he got to watch his team win the first ODI of the summer by 32 runs with 11 balls remaining. It took a brilliant piece of fielding, from substitute Steve Smith, to dismiss a brilliant batsman, AB de Villiers, for 80 from 76 balls and put the target of 301 beyond reach for the touring team.
With the Proteas needing 86 from the last 10 overs, Smith hit the stumps at the non-striker's end with an underarm throw from point, catching the captain well short of his ground.
The South Africans' awful fielding had allowed Australia to recover from 5-144 to post 8-300, with 104 of those runs coming from the last 10 overs.
Dale Steyn and Michael Clarke. Photo: Getty Images
It might have helped Clarke's mood, too, to see rising paceman Nathan Coulter-Nile collect career-best figures of 4-48 while Mitchell Johnson, freshly anointed ICC Cricketer of the Year, began the summer full of pace and venom, dismissing both South African openers cheaply.
However, the Australian captain admitted his prospects are not positive and will have scans on Saturday. It is the same leg that forced Clarke home from the ODI series in Zimbabwe in September and required a long recovery because of tendon damage.
"I've got my fingers crossed that it's not that bad but the fact is that I have had this injury three times in the last 12 weeks, I've had a long stint of rehab trying to get it strong and unfortunately it's come back again. So that is not positive. But I know I've got experts looking at it, I'm in good hands, and I will just have to listen to them," a downcast Clarke told Channel Nine.
The first Test is almost three weeks away but Clarke felt the effects of limited match preparation when he missed the one-day series in the UAE and struggled for runs in the Tests. The injury also raises fresh questions about his capacity to lead Australia through a hectic World Cup campaign and a triangular series that precedes it. "I think we're in for a great summer. I just hope I can be a part of it," he said.
There are numerous implications if Clarke cannot play against India, not least who will captain the side given Brad Haddin is not certain to recover from his shoulder injury before then. Shane Watson and George Bailey, neither of whom played in Australia's most recent Tests, have captaincy experience, while Steve Smith is considered future leader.
The relationship between Steyn and Clarke has dominated the build-up to the series and the South African took the early honours, getting him with a short ball that Clarke tried to pull but ballooned off the glove to wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock.
It was the pair's first meeting since Steyn declared he had not forgiven Clarke for what he said to him in the dying stages of this year's Cape Town Test.
Steyn said in an interview that aired on Nine as the ODI series started that he was coming for Clarke, and not because of anything that had happened between them.
"I always target the captain," Steyn said. "If you can cut the head off the machine often the body will fall and fail. "You always try to attack the senior player in the side so you can try to spread a virus through their environment. I'm always gunning for the captain."
Clarke's injury puts extra focus on the form of his ODI deputy Bailey, who needed some luck but led the Australian recovery with 70 from 75 balls.
Steyn greeted Bailey to the crease with a fierce bouncer, which glanced off his helmet for four and the Tasmanian was dropped four times. David Miller grassed a simple chance at point and Imran Tahir spilt a caught-and-bowled opportunity when Bailey was on two, and he was spared twice in the outfield when he was well set.
The Proteas were made to regret their sloppiness. Bailey shared a 92-run stand with Matthew Wade and launched Ryan McLaren for a monstrous straight six down the ground. Australia needed the runs and so did Bailey, who had held his middle order spot in the team ahead of Smith.
Openers David Warner and Aaron Finch put on 94 for the first wicket but the innings stalled after Vernon Philander dismissed both in the same over.
Watson found it difficult to get started against the leg spin of Tahir, who had him caught sweeping for 13. Mitchell Marsh, playing his first ODI in Australia, edged Philander onto his stumps and Wade scrapped for 35. Glenn Maxwell, Johnson and Coulter-Nile lifted the home side to a competitive score with some lusty lower-order hitting.
Wade will keep the gloves for the remainder of the ODI series after Haddin was officially ruled out, giving him a chance to enhance his Test claims if Haddin can't start the Test series.
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