Feb 21 the World Cup deadline for Clarke

Keen to avoid a kerfuffle, selectors set February 21 as the hard-and-fast deadline for Michael Clarke to prove his fitness for the World Cup.

If Clarke is not fully fit when the co-hosts meet Bangladesh in Brisbane, he will not take part in the tournament.

No ifs, buts or maybes.

The knock-out stage doesn’t start until March 15, but chief selector Rod Marsh wants the issue settled long before then.

“By the 21st of February we want to be completely and utterly settled,” Marsh said, naming Australia’s 15-man World Cup squad on Sunday.

“What we don’t want is talk about people’s fitness.

“We had to draw the line somewhere, we just couldn’t keep it hanging on and on and on.”

Clarke, who missed the final three Tests against India after undergoing hamstring surgery, admitted he has a lot of work to do over the next six weeks.

But the 33-year-old is upbeat he will return to captain Australia next month.

“I’m confident I’ll be fit,” Clarke said of his World Cup hopes.

“My focus is to get fully fit. However long that takes.”

There were few surprises in the one-day squad announced on Sunday, when most of the intrigue centred on Clarke’s hamstring.

Marsh and Clarke conducted a joint press conference, trying to appear on the same page.

It was a far cry from last November, when selectors and Clarke publicly disagreed over whether a day of grade cricket constituted a fitness test for the first Test.

Clarke was tight-lipped when asked about the merits of his deadline.

“It’s really irrelevant what I think,” Clarke said.

“That’s what they’ve gone with, the selectors.

“That’s the system.

“I have to get fit and healthy and get myself back on the park.”

Marsh floated the prospect of Clarke batting in a tune-up clash with United Arab Emirates in Melbourne on February 11.

“It would be really nice if Michael could go and play some cricket before the 21st, and there’s a possibility that might happen,” Marsh said.

“Michael might be able to walk out there … just hit boundaries and not worry about running between wickets.”

Marsh noted Clarke’s fitness test was a matter for Cricket Australia’s medical staff, but selectors want him to run, field, bat and bowl.

“He knows what he’s got to do. He’s played enough cricket to know when he’s right to play,” he said.

Marsh insisted the deadline applied to every player with a major injury, not just Clarke.

Mitchell Johnson (hamstring) will be rested from the early stages of the upcoming tri-series, but the left-armer is expected to be fit for the World Cup opener on February 14.

The only other player named despite an injury cloud was Mitch Marsh, who missed recent Tests at the MCG and SCG due to a hamstring strain.

Marsh is expected to return later during the tri-series.

Allrounders Marsh, Shane Watson and James Faulkner were automatic selections, while Glenn Maxwell and Xavier Doherty are the squad’s spin options.

Johnson, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood will make up Australia’s pace attack, while David Warner, Aaron Finch, Steve Smith, George Bailey and Brad Haddin round out the squad.

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