Clarke does not want to see any of his players succumb to long-term injuries

Australia captain Michael Clarke has defended his decision to rest key players at certain points during a series, stating that all of them complained of minor niggles and as skipper, his responsibility was to ensure that those minor aches and pains heal as soon as possible instead of letting them get even more aggravated by allowing those players to play through it.

During the Test series against South Africa, pace duo Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus were both rested for the final Test in Perth after being left exhausted and burned out due to the large number of overs they bowled during the second Test in Adelaide.

Just a month later, left-arm seamer Mitchell Starc was left out of the Boxing Day Test against Sri Lanka, despite taking five wickets on the final day of the first Test in Hobart.

Starc however, was extremely frustrated with the fact that he had been dropped, but Clarke explained that the decision had to be made since it was only a few days prior to the Test that it was revealed the lanky pace bowler had bone spurs in his ankle.

Clarke himself, along with wicketkeeper Matthew Wade and opening batsman David Warner were all rested for the first two ODIs against Sri Lanka, which infuriated the fans, who dubbed the national team “the B-team” during the two matches.

While Clarke admitted that the public have not always been informed about players with minor injuries, he also noted that he did not want other teams catching wind of the information since they would have been able to use it to their advantage.

However, Clarke stated that he agreed with all the decisions made by the national selectors, given the excellent knowledge they have on each player’s fitness levels.

“There’s a lot that is spoken about within the group that people outside the group probably aren’t aware of,” Clarke said. “We’ve probably seen some cases throughout the past 12 months where guys have not been 100% fit or had little niggles that probably haven’t been communicated as well as they needed to be to the media, and in essence to the public.

“The Perth Test match was a great example. Call it resting Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus [but] the facts were they just weren’t fit enough to perform at their best. The two guys who we brought in for Siddle and Hilfenhaus [John Hastings and Mitchell Johnson], we were confident that they could do a better job at 100% than those guys at 70 or 80%.”

All these decisions, along with Cricket Australia’s rotation policy, have met with heavy criticism from cricket pundits and former players, such as Shane Warne, Ian Chappell and Brett Lee.

However, Clarke continued to defend the rotation policy and the decision to rest key players from time to time, saying that the increased workload would completely wear them out unless they got some time off to relax and refresh themselves.

“The issue where the Australian team now is compared to where it was ten years ago, is ten years ago you had four, five, six, seven great players in one team, so if they were 80% fit, they were still good enough to win a game for Australia,” Clarke said. “Where we sit now as a team is, it’s a lot different to that.

“The gap between the 11 players that take the field and the 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th player is quite close, so if you’re not 100% fit to perform at your best, it’s not worth the risk for the team for you to take to the field and let the team down.

“What the public wants to see is the best possible Australian team on the field, every game, and honestly I think we’re trying to do that. I really do. I think the risk of playing someone when they’re not 100% fit, if they do get injured, can put them out for six weeks, six months.”