Hamstrung Australian captain Michael Clarke has refused Darren Lehmann's request to keep his concerns about selection private and declared he has no intention of quitting one-day cricket after the World Cup.
Clarke landed in Sydney on Tuesday for scans on his injured hamstring, facing questions about his longevity in the game and the selection controversy that deepened when the coach chided him for airing gripes about the choices that contributed to Australia's embarrassing loss to Zimbabwe in Harare on Sunday.
He defended the decision to play despite conceding before the match that he could still feel his hamstring when he was batting in the nets. "In my mind I was 100 per cent fit to perform ... There's obviously a deeper issue than a minor hamstring strain that we thought it was."
The issue that caused tension was the non-selection of Steve Smith, one of the side's best players of spin and a useful part-time leggie. Clarke, who resigned from the selection panel last year, felt Smith should have played in turning conditions, and said so.
Lehmann later acknowledged Smith's non-selection was a mistake but when he was asked about Clarke's view, replied: "I would rather our conversations stay out of the media."
"It shouldn't matter which side we put out there against Zimbabwe," he added.
Clarke backed the selectors but said he would continue to voice his opinions about the teams he is given.
"That's Boof's opinion; I have always been open and honest to the media and that's not going to change," the captain said.
"I am not going to talk any more about [the Smith omission]. I made my thoughts clear after the game. As I have always said my goal as captain of Australia is to win every game, there is no easy game as we have just seen. I think we have to respect the fact no matter what XI we put on the field, if we play the way we did the other night we are not going to win many games."
Scans will determine Clarke's availability for next month's one-day series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates, which is followed by two Tests, but he insists there is no need to scale back his playing commitments after the home World Cup in February and March, which would seem a natural time for the 33-year-old to narrow his focus to Tests given his chronic back and hamstring trouble.
"Not at all. I think I have had a really good run in the last 12 to 18 months and my back's been in good shape. It's obviously frustrating that I have been training for four months to get on to the field and I played one game, or half a game. I am really confident, I feel as fit and healthy as I have been throughout my career."
"At this stage I have no intention [of bowing out of limited-overs cricket after the World Cup]. It's hard for me to look any further down the track than where I am today but I love the game as much as I ever have and the last thing I am thinking about is retiring."
For Tuesday night's match against South Africa, Smith returned to the XI along with Mitchell Johnson and death bowler Kane Richardson, while allrounder James Faulkner and fast bowler Ben Cutting were dropped.
With five months to go before the World Cup the selectors appear to have used the early games to experiment; for example, Nathan Lyon missed a game against South Africa to give young allrounder Mitchell Marsh more game time.
But the Australians have encountered conditions that exposed old problems against spin bowling. "We've got to learn really quickly because teams are going to see that (weakness) and they're going to react to it," Lehmann said.
