Clark targets return tour to South Africa

MELBOURNE: Watching his team plunge to its worst defeats from sidelines 'hurts' Stuart Clark and the Australian pacer is itching to make a comeback but said only doctors can tell when that will happen.
   
Clark was ruled out to play the ongoing Test series against South Africa after sustaining an elbow injury just ahead of the first Test in Perth.
    
"Things are going great. It's about four weeks since the operation. Everything is settling down and I should be able to get into some light work shortly."
    
"But, while I don't want to make any bold predictions, I'll hopefully be right to go on the trip to South Africa. Watching from the sidelines, you still hurt like all the other boys . . . you want to be out there," he said.
    
Clark, however, said the plight of the world champions was not pushing his hasty return to the team for the return South African tour next month.
    
"I can't be pressured into anything. It really will be up to the medical staff as to when I come back," he was quoted as saying by Daily Telegraph.
    
He also expressed hope that Australians will be back to their ruthless style of play.
    
"I see things turning around very quickly. It hasn't been the most ideal series, but at the same time, a couple of losses, as we saw with the Ashes in '05, is the start of something new. After those losses in the Ashes in '05, we won 16 straight Tests," he said.