Michael Clarke shaking hands with Graeme Smith
Australia's captain Michael Clarke (2nd R) shakes the hand of South African captain Graeme Smith (R) as he comes out to bat for the last time during the fourth day of the third cricket test match at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town, March 4, 2014. Reuters
Australia's captain Michael Clarke (2nd R) shakes the hand of South African captain Graeme Smith (R) as he comes out to bat for the last time during the fourth day of the third cricket test match at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town, March 4, 2014.

The Australian Cricket team just faced another fresh blow as scans showed Michael Clarke suffered a fracture in his shoulder during his century at Cape Town test against South Africa.

The physiotherapist of Cricket Australia, Alex Kountouris, confirmed the injury of Clarke will heal "with a period of rest." However, it was not confirmed how long it will take to heal.

The fracture of Clarke clearly implies that he will be unavailable for the upcoming of Sheffield Shield against Western Australia, which is slated to start on Friday at Manuka Oval in Canberra.

Kountouris said, "Michael Clarke was injured as a result of being struck on the left shoulder during the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town."

"We have since done a series of scans that have demonstrated a fracture near his shoulder joint. We expect that this will heal with a period of rest. Michael is therefore unavailable for the Sheffield Shield final to be played later this week."

Clarke returned from South Africa with a hope to represent his state in the crucial upcoming match. But sadly, he now has to rest for recovery. Clarke had played a superfluous innings at Newlands with an unbeaten recors of 161, defeating South Africa by 2-1 in the test series.

Michael Clarke, aka Pup, is a right-handed batsman and a slow left-arm orthodox bowler. His first test debut was in 2004 against India. He made his one-day international debut in 2003 against England.

Clarke also played for the Pune Warriors in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

He also captained Australia's T20 team in 2009, taking over from Ricky Ponting. He also served as a stand-in captain for the fifth test of Ashes series in 2010-11. However, he later retired from the small format matches to concentrate on the longer forms.