Taylor concerned for Clarke's future

Former Test captain Mark Taylor says he's concerned for the future of Michael Clarke after the Australia skipper injured his troublesome back at the Adelaide Oval.

Clarke grimaced when he swayed to avoid a bouncer from India quick Ishant Sharma during the second session of this first Commonwealth Bank Test, before retiring hurt with his score on 60.

Cricket Australia said Clarke was in "considerable pain" when he left the ground and confirmed that he has received injections in his lower back. His condition will be assessed by medical staff on Wednesday morning.

Quick single: Clarke retires hurt in Adelaide

It's the latest in a long line of injuries for Clarke in 2014, most of which are related to the chronic back complaint that he's battled for most of his career.

Clarke had been racing to be fit for the now rescheduled first Test in Brisbane after he tweaked his left hamstring during the Carlton Mid ODI series against South Africa last month.

The tragic death of Phillip Hughes saw the summer schedule rejigged, and Clarke subsequently proved his fitness on Monday, despite Cricket Australia's earlier wish that the 33-year-old have some match practice for taking on the Indians.

Taylor said it was hard to be critical of the decision to play Clarke, given he'd batted comfortably for 115 minutes today before the injury struck.

"He made 60 and obviously batted for quite a long time, so in a fitness test situation he wouldn't have batted that long," Taylor told cricket.com.au.

"So he obviously would have passed fitness tests and what have you.

"So whether he should have played or not, people will probably turn around and say 'no' because he's obviously broken down with the same injury.

"I think in this situation, no one's had any cricket for two weeks so it's been very hard for him to prove his fitness.

"He probably would have got through a grade game because he may not have batted as long and might have taken it easy."

Clarke's injury woes this year began in March, when he bravely posted a century against South Africa in Cape Town despite suffering from what was later diagnosed as a fractured shoulder.

He tweaked his left hamstring in a training session prior to the ODI tri-series in Harare in August after the long flight from Australia via Johannesburg. His comeback lasted just one match, forced to retire hurt against Zimbabwe after re-injuring the hamstring mid-innings.

That setback ruled him out of the ODI series against Pakistan in October and while he made it through the Test series in the UAE unscathed, albeit suffering in form from a lack of match practice, he injured the same hamstring against the Proteas on November 14.

That complaint had him in doubt for the first Test at the Gabba, which was due to start on December 4, and Cricket Australia had requested that the skipper prove his fitness in a tour match in Adelaide that preceded the Test.

Clarke had also raised the possibility of testing himself in Sydney grade cricket, but all concerns for his fitness were pushed into the background in the wake of Hughes's passing.

But with the ICC Cricket World Cup starting in February ahead of the 2015 Ashes series in the UK, Taylor says the fact Clarke has broken down again in such an innocuous manner was a cause for concern.

"Absolutely, I think we're all concerned," Taylor said. "It's an injury that continues to flare up at the moment.

"It flared up in Zimbabwe and then in Perth and now again here a month later. So that's a concern.

"I know Clarkey would be working like a Trojan to make sure it's right. He'll be doing all kinds of exercises and training to get that part of his body as fit and strong as he possibly can.

"And yet, a short ball down the leg side and a little flinch injures it."