Uncapped drafted into Aussie team

MELBOURNE: Australia have dropped Damien Martyn from their squad for the four-Test tour of the West Indies because the batsman has failed to recover from a broken finger sustained at the recent Cricket World Cup.

Michael Clarke from New South Wales was named yesterday as Martyn’s replacement. The uncapped 22-year-old will travel to the West Indies during the weekend, the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) said in a statement. The First Test starts in Guyana on April 10. Martyn, a veteran of 33 Tests, was expected to join the squad next week after receiving further treatment in Perth. “The fracture will need protection for up to four weeks, after which we are hopeful the healing process has taken hold and he is fit enough to be available for One-Day international selection,” Australia team physiotherapist Errol Alcott said in the statement.

Martyn told reporters in Perth ysterday: “I was hoping to be on the plane next week ... The news didn’t come back what I needed to hear. “That is always the risk when you get injured now, there are a lot of great players around and you can’t just walk back into the side,” the 31-year-old added. Martyn scored an unbeaten 88 in Australia’s World Cup final win over India in Johannesburg on March 23 despite fracturing his finger in a match against Kenya eight days earlier. The right-hander has a Test average of 46.51 with five centuries. Australia are also weakened by the absence of paceman Glenn McGrath and leg-spinner Shane Warne, who have taken 913 Test wickets between them.

McGrath, 33, has returned to Sydney to comfort his wife Jane, who has a cancer infection in her hip.  Uncapped Western Australia fast bowler Brad Williams, 28, is on his way to Guyana as a temporary replacement for McGrath. Warne was handed a 12-month doping suspension in February after the 33-year-old tested positive for diuretics. Clarke was the fourth-highest scorer in the 2002-03 Australian four-day competition with 763 runs at 47.68. The fresh-faced lad from Sydney’s western suburbs made an unbeaten 39 against England in January in his One-Day International debut.