Australian captain Michael Clarke begins an intensive campaign to get himself fit for the Boxing Day Test after picking up a hamstring strain in the first Test victory over Sri Lanka.
Clarke suffered the twinge while batting in Australia's second innings but took his place at slip as the home side dismissed the Sri Lankans for 255 to win by 137.
The prolific Clarke, back on top of the ICC's Test batsman rankings, is in a race against time to prove his fitness and have the chance to better Ricky Ponting's record of 1544 Test runs in a calendar year.
The Australian skipper needs another 55 runs to equal Ponting's record, set in 2005.
"I know I'm in great hands with (team physio) Alex (Kountouris) and I know how great a physio he is," Clarke said.
"And I know how good my physio back in Sydney is that I'll be using over the next couple of days.
"Obviously my preparation will be a little bit different to the lead-up to this Test match but I've done a fair bit of batting throughout the summer so I'm confident."
Clarke said his scans were "positive" and the injury is minor but former Test number three Usman Khawaja has been placed on standby.
Missing from Australia's 12-man squad will be swing bowler Ben Hilfenhaus, who has a side strain he suffered at Bellerive.
Tasmanian medium-pacer Jackson Bird, the Sheffield Shield's leading wicket-taker, has been called into the squad.
Despite only playing 17 first-class matches in Shield cricket, Bird has already amassed 87 wickets for Tasmania to thrust himself into the national spotlight.
Clarke said Australia was starting to heed the lessons from its 1-0 series loss to South Africa.
"There's no doubt we've learned a lot from the South Africa series," he said.
"Having the extra bowler today compared to Adelaide played a big part.
"Watto (Shane Watson) bowled 27 overs - I would have loved those overs in Adelaide."
Australia leads the three-Test series against Sri Lanka 1-0 with matches in Melbourne and Sydney to come.
Clarke has extra incentive to make the Boxing Day Test after reclaiming the number one Test batsman spot in the ICC Player Rankings.
The Australian captain entered the Hobart Test trailing Shivnarine Chanderpaul by just one point, but now leads the West Indian by nine points.
Clarke's knocks of 74 and 57 in the Hobart Test against Sri Lanka, won by Australia by 137 runs, played a part in helping him reach the top, the ICC said in a statement.
Other big gainers were Australia's Mike Hussey, England's Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell, Sri Lanka's Tillakaratne Dilshan and India's Virat Kohli.
Hussey returned to the top 10 in ninth position after rising four places following his unbeaten knocks of 115 and 31 in Hobart.
Batsmen slipping down the ladder are Kevin Pietersen in 11th (down by two), Thilan Samaraweera in 17th (down by two), Mahela Jayawardena in 21st (down by four), Sachin Tendulkar in 22nd (down by three), Virender Sehwag in 25th (down by two), Cheteshwar Pujara in 26th (down by one), Shane Watson in 39th (down by three) and Prasanna Jayawardena in 52nd (down by one).
The bowlers' table was still headed by South Africa's Dale Steyn while Sri Lanka's spinner Rangana Herath dropped two places to fourth whereas Australia fast bowler Peter Siddle, who was the player of the match at Hobart for his spells of five for 54 and four for 50, was at fifth place with a best-ever 806 ratings points.
Also moving up are England's paceman James Anderson in sixth (up by one), India's spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in 20th (up by two), Nathan Lyon in 28th (up by two), Ishant Sharma in 32nd (up by one) and Chanaka Welegedara in 34th (up by five).
The bowlers to move downwards within the top 10 include Graeme Swann in seventh (down by one), Pragyan Ojha in ninth (down by four) and Ben Hilfenhaus in 10th (down by one).
AAP
Tags: cricket, sport, melbourne-3000, vic, hobart-7000, tas, sri-lanka, australia First posted December 19, 2012 09:05:17
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