Injuries mounting in Champions Trophy

Australian captain Michael Clarke has been ruled out of his side's opening match against England tomorrow with an ongoing back injury. Clarke has battled it his whole career but has had consistent trouble with it this year, including having to miss the first test of his career due to injury. With the Ashes looming on back of this one-day tournament, I think it is safe to say, the Australian management will play it with safe with Clarke and not risk him aggravating the injury further.

Bad news for South Africa with Morne Morkel being ruled out of the remainder of the tournament after straining his quad muscle in last night's defeat to India. It is a bitter pill to swallow for South Africa with Dale Steyn getting injured in the warm-up game, as well as pre-tournament withdrawals of Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis.