Clarke gears for final fitness test

Michael Clarke, the Australia captain, and allrounder Mitchell Marsh will be hoping to prove their fitness for the first Test against Pakistan during this week's four-day warm-up game, while opener David Warner will nurse his groin problem on the sidelines. Australia beat Pakistan in the T20 and all three ODIs, but that momentum has been counterbalanced by injury clouds over key players.

The squad trained in Sharjah on the eve of the their practice match against Pakistan A. With only eight days before the first Test in Dubai, the warm-up game looms as an important fitness test. Most important will be how Clarke comes through the match, having not played since the one-day tour of Zimbabwe, where he injured his hamstring.

Clarke has only once missed a Test through injury, in Delhi in 2013. Two days out from the Pakistan A match, he said there was still "a long way to go before I'm 100% fit for the Test match". A day later, his confidence appeared to have risen a little, but he will still need to show the physio Alex Kountouris over the next four days that his body is up to the rigours of a Test match.

"I feel a lot better now than I did after Zimbabwe when I tore my hamstring," Clarke said. "So I'll be playing tomorrow in the four-day practice match. I'm just trying to take every single step along the way, and listen to the experts.

"As soon as I walk onto that ground, I'm a hundred miles an hour. That's an area that probably hasn't been great for me ... since coming back from Zimbabwe, Alex has had to hold me back in regards to trying to push myself too quickly to get back on the park. If I can prove to Alex that I can do everything that he asks [I'll be fit for the Test].

"I'll play the way I've played over the past 12 years. If the ball is there to chase to the boundary, I'll be sprinting after it. If I've got to run between the wickets as quick as I can, then that's what I'll be doing. That's why I think it's really important I take his [Kountouris] advice and guidance."

There were questions over whether Clarke came back into the side too soon in Zimbabwe after injuring his hamstring at the first training session of the trip. He came back for a game against Zimbabwe but was forced to retire hurt, and the Australians have been extra careful to avoid any such repeats in the UAE, where he has sat out of all three ODIs.

While Clarke is Australia's most important batsman, Marsh could be critical to the team's team balance. He had appeared a certainty to make his Test debut in Dubai as a like-for-like swap for the injured Shane Watson, until he hurt his hamstring during the Champions League T20.

Marsh bowled in the nets, but mostly worked of a shortened run-up and will not bowl in the first innings of the tour game. The match against Pakistan A is not a first-class encounter, so the Australians are free to use all members of their Test squad at different times during the match.

"Mitch definitely won't bowl in the first innings," Clarke said. "Hopefully he can bowl in the second innings. His progress is slow and steady, but he was bowling in the nets today so that's a real positive sign for us. The other side is I think his workloads are very good. He's played a lot of cricket for this time of year. He's played a lot of the Australia A stuff and got a lot of cricket under his belt.

"I think as long as he's fit to bowl, I don't think he necessarily needs to go and bowl 10 or 15 overs to prove that he's fit enough to do that. That'll be dictated by Alex and the doctor and we'll try and make the most of his batting in the first innings and then in the second innings, hopefully he'll have an opportunity to bowl."

If Marsh plays in the Tests, his bowling will be important as he will offer an extra seam option in the UAE heat, which in turn would allow the frontline fast men like Mitchell Johnson to work in shorter and sharper spells. The make-up of Australia's bowling line-up might not be apparent until shortly before the Dubai Test, with the potential for two spinners, or even a third if allrounder Glenn Maxwell is picked.

Maxwell was among a group of Australia's ODI players who did not train ahead of the practice game, while Warner was also not present. Warner suffered a groin strain during the third ODI in Abu Dhabi and will not play in Sharjah, although a Cricket Australia spokesperson said he was to be rested from the warm-up game in any case.

On Monday, Warner said on Sydney radio that he was confident of being fit for the Test and a similar groin injury he had suffered in the past had taken only a week to heal. His absence from the tour game will provide another opportunity for the batsmen Phillip Hughes and Alex Doolan, who appear to be competing for the No.3 position for the first Test.

As the incumbent from the tour of South Africa earlier this year, Doolan seems the most likely candidate to play in Dubai, but should Hughes score heavily in the tour game he might come into contention. Left-arm spinner Steve O'Keefe will be another player to watch against Pakistan A as he auditions for a possible debut, alongside Nathan Lyon.