Brand new hamstring, brand new start for Clarke

In 1998, amid much troubling speculation about Shane Warne's admission for extensive shoulder surgery, Richie Benaud was the voice of optimism. If Warne's surgery and recovery were well-handled, Benaud wrote that the 29-year-old leg spinner would "come back brand new".

Few voices were raised in similar tones when Michael Clarke was striving to come back from hamstring surgery last summer. The prevailing wisdom seemed to be that the recovery target set by Cricket Australia was too ambitious, Clarke's body too fragile and his mind too addled by the death of his friend Phillip Hughes to have much of a career left, if any at all.

Even Clarke had seemed unsure of what lay ahead - his post-match press conference in Adelaide struck a note of grim acceptance that if this was it, he would be content to make peace with that manner of his final appearance in a baggy green cap. Yet here he is seven months later, happily reporting his physical soundness and eagerness for plenty more Test cricket. The hamstring? It seems Benaud's "brand new" assessment of Warne is apt once more.

"For six months before [Adelaide] I had big dramas with hamstring troubles and my back was playing up," Clarke said in Kingston ahead of the second Test against West Indies. "After I had my third hamstring incident in six months, there was a chance I'd never be able to play at my best again. And if I wasn't able to play at my best, I wouldn't be good enough to play for Australia.

"I had to spend some time speaking to hamstring experts, back experts and obviously the surgeon about what we thought was best to give me a chance to keep playing. My body feels outstanding at the moment. I'll always have - my back is my back. I've had degeneration in my back for my whole career but I've managed it. But since surgery I haven't felt my hamstring. Long may that continue."

Clarke has not had too much time to reflect on the summer, the loss of Hughes towards its beginning and the gaining of the World Cup at its end. But at this distance he can spare himself a moment's pride at being able to prove to many both within CA and beyond it that he could indeed pull his body together in time for the World Cup and then lead the team to victory.

"I think my main focus at the time was getting through the passing of Phillip and supporting his family as much as I could," Clarke said. "And then when I was doing that I guess I made the decision to have surgery on my hamstring to give myself any chance, in my opinion, of making it back to the World Cup. Once I had that surgery, my mindset then was 100% on getting fit for the World Cup.

"So I didn't get too many days to stop and reflect, which I think for me personally was probably a good thing. I just think when you lose someone close it's hard to not think about them but if you've got something else on your mind, sometimes that can drive you. And that's probably the way I tried to use it.

"The fact that I was able to get myself fit for that World Cup, help the team make the final, help the team win the final, I was really proud of myself to be able to do that. It was certainly a standout achievement for me through my career. I don't think there was too many people who thought I was going to make it. That was really satisfying. And I was really proud of the guys for the way they worked so hard through that whole campaign. To get that result was icing on the cake for what was a tough summer off the field."

Tough times are currently the lot of Chris Rogers rather than Clarke, after a stubborn concussion ruled him out of another Test match. Clarke knows as much as anyone the value of getting things right before returning, and he is not eager to see Rogers' standing as a prime Ashes asset depreciating on account of blase attitudes to concussion and injury.

"There's never a right time to get injured, is there?" Clarke said. "Bucky's a strong character, though. He's a very experienced player. So I think he understands where he's at. First and foremost he's got to get himself fit and healthy. I think over the last week or so he's certainly seen the other side of that. At first you're so disappointed that you've been ruled out of a Test match but I think now, knowing he's still a little bit dizzy and he's still not 100%, he knows the doc has made the right decision.

"I love the game of cricket but it is just that, it is just a game, and his health and safety is the number one priority right now. Once he's fit he'll be ready to go again. Chris has scored a lot of runs in England, knows the conditions as an experienced top order batter. It helps a lot over in those conditions against a pretty good attack."

A pretty good attack that may have doubted Clarke's capacity to be around for the Ashes this time. But the hunger is clearly still there. "A mixture of youth and experience in a squad is pretty important because the youth continues to push you along," Clarke said, "and the experience of senior players helps those young players guide them through tough times.

"I haven't noticed anybody who doesn't have the hunger to want to be the best team in the world. While you're still playing at the highest level you have to have that. Because if you don't you'll get found out. That's one thing I've learnt throughout my career and the players I've seen get older and walk away from the game. As soon as you're that far off in whatever way ... it's time to go."