Australia cricket team captain Michael Clarke is likely to miss a home Test and might miss out the series against India for the first time in his career due to injury after coach Darren Lehmann said that the World Cup would be a priority for the skipper.
Clarke on Saturday had scans on his injured hamstring in Perth before flying home to Sydney to consult specialists about the results, but Lehmann admitted that the first Test against India in Brisbane, 18 days away, would be a big ask.
He said that it's tight, but they have to see what comes up in the next few days. In the past two years, Test cricket has been a clear priority in Cricket Australia's management of Clarke's body, reflected by the fact he has missed four ODI campaigns through injury but just one Test, in India in 2013, Sydney Morning Herald reported.
However, this season the home World Cup in February and March looms just as large in the side's planning.
Lehmann is adamant that Australia can win the trophy without Clarke, if it comes to that, but he also said that Clarke would want to be in the World Cup so they have just got to get it diagnosed, work out what is going on and finally get it right.
The coach said that that is the big thing for them, get the skipper back playing cricket.
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George Bailey would act as ODI captain for the four remaining games against South Africa, and Lehmann expressed confidence that injured Test deputy Brad Haddin would play in the round of Sheffield Shield games that precedes the Brisbane Test.
The coach said that Haddin is tracking along pretty well, and believes that he would play in the Shield game, but added that the Australian team is in the lap of the medicos at the moment.
Lehmann also said that he is pretty sure and confident it would be fine.
