County stint would have helped for Ashes - Clark

Stuart Clark, the Australian fast bowler, has admitted that a county stint would have helped him prepare better for the Ashes instead of a one-day series in the UAE.

Clark was originally due to represent Kent as their overseas player but the Australia call-up has forced the county to change their plans and recruit the South African, Wayne Parnell, instead. Clark, who is making a comeback after elbow surgery in December, felt a more rigorous programme in England would have helped fine-tune his comeback instead of a rather limited workload in the UAE, especially with the fast bowlers being rotated.

"That's no secret that I need to do some more cricket work," Clark told AAP. "But I'm getting a fair amount of cricket work in the nets, which is something I wouldn't have got at home, being winter, and there's not many facilities available other than probably Brisbane.

"England, obviously, I would have gone and played county cricket [if not selected for Australia] and it would have been more competitive. But what I've found here is the fact that we've got nets and without the pressure of having to win or lose, it's not result-orientated, it's just practice."

Clark, however, reiterated that playing for Australia was always his first priority, injury permitting. He wasn't expecting a call-up and was preparing to head to England earlier this month and he admitted to Cricinfo that he "nearly fell off his chair" when Cricket Australia informed him of his selection.

"I would have played some more cricket as such, but this is an opportunity to play for Australia and no one should ever turn that down," Clark said. "Maybe from a selfish point of view that might have been the best thing for me.

"But it's another chance to play for Australia and at one stage in my life I would have given my right arm - or my left arm, my right one I need to bowl - to play for Australia, so it would be rude to turn it down, wouldn't it?"

He said his recovery has been smooth. He bowled eight overs in the first ODI and three in the third match, taking a wicket in each game.

"I'm pain-free now, unfortunately in India I hurt it and as much as I tried to put it out of my mind, on the days when it did feel good I bowled well and when it felt bad I didn't," he said. "Now that I don't have to worry about it, it's really good."