Buoyant Clarke raises World Cup hopes

Australia skipper Michael Clarke says he is "really confident" he will be fit and available for the "majority" of next year's ICC Cricket World Cup.

Clarke, speaking on the Nine Network's The Cricket Show at lunch on day two of the third Commonwealth Bank Test in Melbourne, said it was unlikely he would be fit for Australia's opening match.

"I don't think it's probably realistic for me to be 100 per cent fit for the first game, but I think I will certainly be fit and available for the majority of the World Cup," he said.

"Obviously it comes down to the selectors taking that risk.

"I think the advantage with the World Cup selection of 15 is you can take a player, if he's not fit you can rule him out of the tournament and bring someone else in.

"I'm hoping the selectors will give me that opportunity."

Australia's first game in the World Cup is against England at the MCG on February 14. A squad of 15 must be named by January 8.

The upbeat prognosis from Clarke is a welcome reverse from his warning that "there's a chance I could never play again" in the wake of the Adelaide Test.

Having overcome a left hamstring injury to take his place in the XI for an emotion-charged Test match in the wake of the tragic death of Phillip Hughes, Clarke suffered further setbacks during the match.

He injured his back while batting on the first day and was forced to retire hurt – only to bravely return on the second morning to complete a memorable century – before tearing his right hamstring in the field.

"I don’t have one regret (about playing in Adelaide), this was the most important Test match of my career,” Clarke said after the first Commonwealth Bank Test.

"I have no regrets about playing in this Test, I have no regrets about going back onto the field after I retired hurt.

"There's a chance I could never play again – I hope that's not the case and I'll be doing everything in my power to get back out on the park, but I think I've got to be realistic as well."

Clarke caveated those statements today, saying they were made during an "emotional" time and that his successful surgery had given him a renewed confidence.

"I was extremely emotional at that time and I had to address how bad my hamstring injury was, how bad my back was," Clarke told Mark Taylor and Michael Slater.

"Leading into that Test it was my left hamstring that was having the problem. I spent a couple of days with surgeons, radiologists, Australian medical staff researching my injury. Obviously they said I had to go and have surgery, I had that done.

"When I came out of the surgery a few things changed for me.

"The surgeon was extremely positive about my injury – I had no previous damage to that tendon. All he could find was the acute injury there.

"In fixing that he said, in regards to re-stitching the tendon together, it went as well as it possibly could.

"I took a lot of confidence out of the surgeon giving me that information.

"Straight away I knew at that time that I am going to do everything I can to get myself back out onto that park. I'm really confident, the way that things are progressing at the moment, as long as I continue to tick every box, that I'll be a part of that World Cup team."