Shane Watson would be honoured to stand in for Michael Clarke as Test skipper against India next month even if he thinks it's increasingly unlikely that Australia will need a caretaker captain.
Australia are sweating on Clarke's hamstring injury ahead of an important three months of cricket on home soil, which takes in the four tests against India and the co-hosting of the 50-over World Cup with New Zealand.
All rounder Watson, who has had more than a few injury problems of his own in recent years, said he had spoken to Clarke and the prognosis for the injury was improving.
"The diagnosis is, I think, better than what it was initially, which is a great thing. It's all very positive," Watson said.
"Everyone's got their fingers crossed. Hopefully, over the next week or so, it'll continue to improve really well and he'll right for the first test."
Watson was the stand-in last year in India when Clarke missed his only test since he replaced Ricky Ponting as captain in March 2011.
On the comeback trail himself in the one-day series against South Africa having missed half a year of international cricket because of injury, Watson said his focus was on proving himself worthy of a recall to the Test side.
The Test series against India begins in Brisbane on December 4 with matches in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney to follow.
Mohammad Amir postpones plans to appear on big screen
Pakistan's banned pacer Mohammad Amir swinged away from appearing on the big screens as he postponed his plans to appear in the film Blind Love.
Amir's decision follows the indication of him getting cleared by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for resuming domestic cricket by January 2015. He said that for now, he would have to postpone his plan of starring in Blind Love because his first priority has always been cricket and that would always be the case.
The Express Tribune quoted the pacer as saying that he cannot wait to hit the ground running by appearing in the competitive first-class circuit and eventually, stepping in international cricket again.
Amir's original ban was to end in September 2015, but strong lobbying from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) bore results in his favour.
With the ICC amending its anti-corruption laws in a recently concluded board meeting, the 22-year-old is set to gain the maximum out of it.
Bailey jokes would massage Clarke to get him through World Cup
Australia One-day Internationals team vice-captain George Bailey has joked that he would massage injured Michael Clarke himself to get the skipper through the World Cup.
Clarke was ruled out of the rest of Australia's ODI series with South Africa after re-aggravating the problematic left hamstring in the first match in Perth last week.
According to News.com.au, stand-in Australia captain Bailey is confident that his side can cover for the loss of skipper Clarke despite seeing his battling order collapse against South Africa.
Clarke remains keen to lead the side at next year's World Cup. Bailey said with a laugh that Clarke would be alright and that he would massage him himself.
He also said that he empathized with Clarke's injury plight.
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