Australia captain Michael Clarke has continued his battle to prove his fitness for the Boxing Day Test against Sri Lanka by batting in the nets for 15 minutes at the MCG on Monday.
The skipper faced throw-downs from assistant coach Stuart Law under the watchful eye of coach and selector Mickey Arthur.
Clarke, who suffered a hamstring injury during last week’s first Test in Hobart, says he’s confident of being able to take his place in the side.
Vice-captain Shane Watson, who has led the side in eight games at one-day international level, is set to take over as Test skipper if Clarke is ruled out.
Former Test No.3 Usman Khawja, dropped from the team a year ago, is in the 13-man squad and is on standby for Clarke.
The 31-year-old Clarke is the leading Test runscorer for 2012 and is only 55 runs shy of Ricky Ponting’s national calendar-year record of 1544 runs in 2005.
However the fact that the Melbourne (December 26-30) and Sydney (January 3-7) Tests are virtually back-to-back will be a factor in Cricket Australia’s decision on Clarke’s fitness for the Melbourne clash.
Australia lead the three-match series 1-0.
Chairman of selectors John Inverarity said on Sunday he would prefer to take a conservative approach to Clarke’s fitness.
“He is 50-50,” Inverarity said.
“He is working hard on his recovery.”