Clarke declared fit for World Cup trial against UAE

Joy Chakravarty 20:06 10/02/2015
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  • Michael Clarke's involvement in the Cricket World Cup may depend on how he plays against UAE.

    With the massive question mark surrounding Michael Clarke’s participation in the ICC Cricket World Cup, there is no doubt that the eyes of the cricketing world will be on the inconsequential practice match between the UAE and hosts Australia today.

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    The significance of the match is huge for the hosts, as the future of Clarke is dependent on how he copes up physically. Clarke did a full session of training with the Australian cricket team at the MCG yesterday, and if all goes well, he will be back in the national squad for the February 21 match against Bangladesh, which will be played in Brisbane.

    Even if Clarke comes out with flying colours today, Australia are not expected to rush him back into the playing eleven for their opening match of the tournament against arch-rivals England on February 14.

    Speaking to Fox Sports on Monday night, Australian coach Darren Lehmann said: “Michael, if he gets through training tomorrow, he’ll play the trial game on Wednesday.

    “So that’s a pleasing thing for us. He’s trained the house down… now it's a case of getting up to speed with the fielding and away he goes from there.”

    And yesterday, young fast bowler Josh Hazlewood, who met the media on the eve of the warm-up match, confirmed Clarke sailed through the training session and will captain the side today.

    “He (Clarke) is doing everything he can to get back,” Hazlewood said.

    “Hopefully he gets through tomorrow night. He’s our captain, so it’s great to have him back. Just to have him around is very valuable for us and it helps us improve. The longer we have him around the better.”

    And UAE coach Aaqib Javed is not planning to make things any easier for Clarke and his team.

    “It will be a very important match for us. It will show us where we stand. But we have put in a lot of hard work for matches like this, and I have a feeling that our boys will not be pushovers,” said Javed speaking to Sport360.

    “The playing XI for the tournament is almost set for us. There might be a couple of changes here and there, but our combination is pretty much there. And the eleven that we play tomorrow, will almost be the eleven that we will be using for the tournament.

    “We may play maximum 12 players tomorrow. But there is no way we are going to field all 15.”

    When asked who are the players in his side who have the potential of surprising the fans today, and in the whole tournament, Javed said: “I think we have got an experienced and well-balanced batting line-up. Khurram (Khan) is the leading batsman. But apart from him, we have two really exciting openers in Amjad Ali and Andri Berenger.

    “We have also got a couple of very good fast bowlers. Mohammed Naveed is one player people are definitely going to love. He is quite an exciting talent. We have Nasir Aziz, the off-spinner, who has got a lot of variety in his bowling."

    The match starts 7.30 UAE time. No live telecast is scheduled.

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