Australian captain Michael Clarke hopes his troublesome back will allow him to play in the one-day series in India, but has offered few clues about how the team will turnaround its Test fortunes against England.

Clarke arrived back in Sydney on Wednesday evening at the end of a long campaign which included a 3-0 Test series defeat and a 2-1 victory in the one-day series.

His back flared up before the final ODI and Clarke said he would consult team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris and probably undergo scans, but was hopeful he could go to India.

“No doubt it’s quite stiff and sore,” Clarke said at Sydney Airport.

“But I’ll be guided by the experts on what I need to do now to try and get myself as fit as I can be.”

Clarke insisted there was a lot of positives to come out of the tour, including the one-day series win and the improved performance over the last three Tests.

He wasn’t giving anything away when asked what Australia needed to do better to turn their Test fortunes around for the return series starting in November.

“I don’t think it’s right to go into specifics, we just have to play better cricket more consistently,” Clarke said.

“In patches we played some really good cricket, but over a five-Test series you’ve got to be at your best consistently throughout the whole time and we just didn’t quite do that.”

He was encouraged by the form of recalled quick Mitchell Johnson, but deferred all queries about Test selection prospects to the selectors.

Clarke was philosophical about the large toll of injured pacemen, saying it world be even higher if not for the efforts of the team’s support staff.