Vice captain Michael Clarke has been included in Australia's Test squad only two days after quitting a cricket tour of New Zealand for personal reasons and returning to his Sydney home. Clarke, 28, left the team hotel Monday on the eve of its third one-day international against New Zealand at Hamilton to be with his partner. “Michael has arrived home to support Lara through this difficult time,” Clarke's manager, Chris White, said Tuesday. At the time there was speculation over whether Clarke would be included in the team for the two Test matches in New Zealand starting later this month. Selectors confirmed his place Wednesday. Clarke's fiancee, Australian model Lara Bingle, recently announced she would sue former boyfriend and Australian Rules football player Brendan Fevola over nude photographs of her. Cricket Australia named Tasmania's George Bailey as Clarke's replacement for the remainder of the five-match, limited-over series and delayed naming the Test squad by a day. Australia captain Ricky Ponting said Clarke had the full support of the national team. “He knows from all of us within the team that he has got all the support that he needs,” Ponting said. “The last thing that I said to him last night before he left was for him to take as much time as he needed and hopefully we can do the right thing over here and win the series without him.” Onions ruled out of first Test England bowler Graham Onions will miss the first Test against Bangladesh starting later this week with a back injury, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said Wednesday. Onions hurt his back in practice last week ahead of the two Test-series which gets underway Friday in Chittagong, and is a blow for the tourists whose bowling options are running thin. Fellow pacemen James Anderson and Ryan Sidebottom are out of the tour to aid recovery of leg injuries, while Stuart Broad missed the third one-day international with a back problem he picked up in the second ODI. The second Test in Mirpur starts on March 20, before both countries head to the West Indies for the Twenty20 World Cup from April 30-May 16. Ashraful dropped Bangladesh has axed experienced batsman Mohammad Ashraful for a two-Test series against England following his inconsistent form, selectors said Tuesday. The 25-year-old former captain, with 2,256 runs in 53 Tests, has not scored a half-century in his last 12 Test innings. He also skipped a recent one-day series against the tourists. Ashraful failed to make the most of his last chance to impress the selectors, making just one and 30 in the ongoing warm-up game against the tourists in Chittagong. “He did not play well in the national league and also in the practice match against England,” Bangladesh's chief selector Rafiqul Alam said. The selectors named three left-arm spinners – Shakib Al Hasan, Abdur Razzak and Enamul Haque – in the 14-man squad for the Test series. Shakib will continue to lead Bangladesh in the absence of Mashrafe Mortaza, who has been rested. Test squad: Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Aftab Ahmed, Mohammad Mahmudullah, Raqibul Hasan, Naeem Islam, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Abdur Razzak, Enamul Haque, Shahadat Hossain.
