Australian captain Michael Clarke will miss next month's one-day international series against Pakistan because of the hamstring injury which ruled him out of much of the recent tour to Zimbabwe.
Cricket Australia physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said that Clarke's injury was more serious than first hoped, and the 33-year-old batsman must therefore sit out the ODI leg of his team's final tour - to be played in the United Arab Emirates - before they host the World Cup next year.
"Since returning to Australia, Michael has had a series of investigations that have confirmed a significant hamstring injury," Kountouris said in a Cricket Australia statement.
"Importantly, the scans have demonstrated tendon damage - which complicates the recovery from this injury.
"As such, he will not recover in time to be available for the ODI series in the UAE.
"We hope he will be available for the Test series, but this will be determined at a date closer to the first Test."
With the first one day match of the three-game series set down for October 6 and the opening Test not until October 22, Clarke would conceivably have an extra 16 days to ready himself for the five-day clashes.
Before the two-Test series there is also a warm-up four-day match against Pakistan starting on October 15.
Clarke has had a history of back issues but seemed confident the hamstring injury would not keep him out of cricket long when he was in Zimbabwe.
He missed the first two fixtures of the tri series that included South Africa, but then declared himself 100 per cent fit for a match against Zimbabwe - only to aggravate his hamstring while scoring 68 not out in the shock loss to the hosts.
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