Clarke's series clouded despite brave 128

Injections, massage, exercise and no little motivation allowed Michael Clarke to fashion a remarkable hundred in the midst of a back flare-up at Adelaide Oval, but Australia's selectors must now deliberate over how sustainable such a combination will be for the remainder of the Test series against India.

Scarcely a ball went by without Clarke wincing in pain as he forged on to 128 on day two, more than doubling the 60 on which he had retired hurt. The hundred was believed to be the first ever by an Australian Test batsman having been forced from the field due to injury, but its courage is no substitute for the rest and strength work that Clarke has customarily leaned on whenever his back has complained in the past.

Short-term salves for the issue, such as painkillers and constant movement, should be enough to ensure Australia do not go through the difficulties of being effectively a man down in this match, though it remains to be seen how much Clarke can field.

Though he said it was unrelated to recent hamstring troubles on the opposite side of his body, the team physio Alex Kountouris conceded Clarke's injury was a major one, leaving the chairman of selectors Rod Marsh and the team performance supremo Pat Howard to ponder wider plans.

"As everyone knows, he has got a chronic back injury and he dived to get back into the crease when David Warner was on 99, he felt it a little bit there and then just tried to get out of the way of a bouncer and it really grabbed," Kountouris said. "Unfortunately it is quite a significant back injury. He hasn't had anything like this for 18 months. The last time he had this was in the Champions Trophy in England. It's poor timing and he is struggling at the moment.

"The hamstring injury is on the other side. He has been carrying a left hamstring injury and this is his right lower back. This is his old injury, it's what he has had in the past with his back. I don't think it is directly related to his hamstring. You don't want to be a man down, so he is very determined to give it a go and see how he goes."

Steven Smith, who went on to an unbeaten 162 largely in Clarke's company, said his captain had made the very best of a bad situation. "He was pretty keen to get out there this morning," Smith said. "He had a good hit this morning and he just came out and played beautifully. A few shots hurt him but he got himself into as many good positions as he could and manipulated the field a little bit as well. He played beautifully under the circumstances.

"In the breaks he was getting a bit of treatment, he was walking around, trying to stay as active as he could - sitting down's probably the hardest thing for him with his back. He was trying to stay quite active."

Clarke has battled his back and hamstring troubles since he was a teenager, and has often worried about how long his body would allow him to play. Over the past few weeks he has shown extraordinary leadership capacity while staying close to the family of Phillip Hughes, underlining how much Australia's players would dearly love him to be fit for the remainder of the summer.

"He has done amazing over the last couple of weeks," Smith said. "It has been tough for all of us but he spent the whole time by Hughesy's family's side. Just the strength and courage he has shown through those times was unbelievable. He must be mentally drained coming into this game but the way he played speaks the world of that guy. He came out here and tried to do something for Hughesy and he certainly did that."