Fitness the Ashes key for Clarke

Michael Clarke is sweating over a gruelling fitness campaign as he tones up for his first Ashes Tour. Trying to muscle a four-month pre-season into six weeks, Clarke is pumping and puffing every day to boost his chances of making it through a year-long campaign free of serious injury.

"England is a major tour and I don't want to leave any stone unturned," he told the Daily Telegraph. "I am making sure my cardio is a No. 1 priority because when you are playing cricket it is hard to get any fitter. Over the next four weeks it will get a lot tougher."

The regime applies to food and he has been phoning restaurants to make sure they offer healthy options before booking. "I am training as hard as I can so I don't want to blow it on food and drink," Clarke said.

Clarke, 23, is also busy in the nets after a disappointing tour of New Zealand finished his first season as a full-time Australia player. He hopes Glenn McGrath will be his net bowler and he will spend time at the Academy in Brisbane before the squad's camp there later this month. "I was definitely disappointed in New Zealand," he told the paper. "I would have liked to score more runs but I understand that's the way it goes."

Clarke has been training in the gym at Aussie Stadium, the home ground of the Sydney Roosters rugby league team, and can't shelve dreams of running out as a halfback. But don't expect him to swap sports because he knows what is No. 1. "England is a very important tour for Australia and me personally," he said. "I had a great start but the last few Tests I haven't done as well as I would have liked. It is important to get back into the runs."