Greg Chappell reposes faith in Clarke

SYDNEY - Australian selector Greg Chappell Tuesday backed acting captain Michael Clarke to regain form before the World Cup and said he will come out of the slump like his teammate Michael Hussey did.

Clarke managed only a fifty in nine innings he played in the Ashes Test series against England and has not fired in the following three One-day Internationals either.

Chappell is confident the embattled Clarke will come good the Hussey way. The southpaw’s place in the side was under the scanner before the Ashes but he silenced critics after smashing two hundreds and three fifties in a losing cause.

“Many wanted Hussey out of the team, we decided to back his ability to perform at the top level and we were repaid in spades by his performances in the Ashes series,” Chappell was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph.

“We are pretty confident that, given the same opportunities, Clarke will repay the same way. He has got through to the end of the World Cup to sort it out and we are confident he well and truly have it sorted before then.”

Chappell recalled his batting woes in the 1981-82 season where he scored four consecutive duck in Tests against Pakistan and the West Indies.

“I learnt having been in similar situations a few times in my career that the difference between batting well and poorly is not that great and generally between your ears,” Chappell said of Clarke.

“We are prepared to give him the support his past performance has demanded.”