MELBOURNE: Australia captain Michael Clarke was thrown straight into the deep end on his return after a long lay-off from injury, coming out to open the batting with Aaron Finch in their World Cup warmup match against United Arab Emirates on Wednesday.

Clarke has been in a race to be fit for the Feb. 14-March 29 World Cup since having hamstring surgery and was given a deadline by selectors to be ready to play for the co-hosts' second group match against Bangladesh on Feb. 21.

Australia's match against associate team UAE at the Melbourne Cricket Ground is their last warm-up before their World Cup opener against England at the same ground on Saturday.

Copyright Reuters, 2015