Clarke ready for promotion

Michael Clarke is ready to step back in as Australia's opener if Matthew Hayden fails to recover from a shoulder injury for Saturday's third one-day match against New Zealand at Auckland. Hayden replaced Clarke for the opening two matches of the current series, scoring 71 and 114, but said he was not going to play "half-baked".

Cleared of bone damage, Hayden did not bat in the nets this morning and a decision will be made on his fitness tomorrow. If Hayden is missing it will be an opportunity to give Clarke another promotion after a great run as opener in the VB Series. Clarke scored 334 runs at 66.8 going in first in Australia, but has had limited opportunities since slipping back to No. 6 to accommodate Hayden.

"What we've got to do now is get Clarke and Andrew Symonds a bit more time in the middle," Ricky Ponting told the Courier-Mail. "They're just a bit frustrated with the amount of time they have had to bat in the first couple of games."

Hayden said his right shoulder made a popping sound as he dived to take the catch from Chris Cairns on Tuesday, and he would not play if it had not healed. "I've got pretty good movement in it so I don't think it's going to be too bad an injury - although at the moment it's pretty sore," Hayden said. "I'm not going to play half-baked. That would hurt the side and hurt me."

Ponting also said Australia might experiment with some young players over the next couple of months with the 2007 World Cup in mind. "We've got 11 one-dayers before the Ashes and maybe there is an opportunity there," he said. "There are enough games to start blooding those youngsters."