Australia still waiting on captain Michael Clarke's fitness ahead of India series

Australia are still waiting on captain Michael Clarke’s fitness ahead of the Test series against India which starts in Brisbane on December 4.

Vice-captain Shane Watson said earlier in the week that he expects Clarke to overcome a hamstring problem in time to lead the team out at the Gabba.

However, Australia's team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris has refused to put a timescale on when the 33-year-old batsman will be able to play again

"Michael's got a recurrence of his hamstring injury that he had back in Zimbabwe (in the August and September triangular series) so it's disappointing that he's got the same injury," Kountouris said.

"Obviously it's not as bad as it was in Zimbabwe but it's in the same location. He's also got a sore back, we've had an aggravation of his back. The two are tied together, which makes the injury quite complex."

Optimistic

When asked whether Clarke would feature for Australia in the next few months, he added: "I'd like to think so. We're not looking that far ahead but we're just trying to get him right at the moment to see what he's going to be available for. It's not that dramatic that he's going to miss the whole summer, not with this current injury.

"I can't put a figure on it right now but as he is right now he hasn't started running, he hasn't started doing any of the functional things that we want him to do, he's not able to bat so he's not ready to play at the moment.

"His next game of cricket is a grade game on the weekend and he's not available for that, then there's a (Sheffield) Shield game that's starting next Tuesday and he's not available for that and that's as far as we're looking.

"I'm still hopeful that he might be right for the first Test because that's two weeks away but we need to review it again next week. But he needs to start running and start doing things before we make a decision on whether he's okay to play."