Australia in crisis: 65 all out and captain Michael Clarke missing with a back injury "It's just precautionary really with him," Bailey said. He's just had some stiffness the last couple of days. Bailey was optimistic about Clarke's chances of playing on Saturday. "I think that's what he's aiming towards," he said. I'm of the belief that Pup [Clarke] is ready to go. An uncomfortable fact for Australia remains though. Clarke, 32, has not played a game since mid-March, the third Test in India, when his back flared up in his second innings and he dropped down the order to No 6. Australia's next Test, their fourth against India, was the only Test that Clarke has missed in his career through injury. Even if his back was fine - and he would not be seeing a specialist in London if it was - Clarke has spent no time in the middle. He cancelled his participation in the Indian Premier League, and missed Australia's first warm-up game on this tour against West Indies on Saturday. A lot of psychological points can be scored in the opening game of an Ashes summer - when England bared their teeth in 2005 in the T20 international, it was their first step towards regaining the Ashes after 16 years - and the loss of their captain, and by far their best batsman, would set the tourists off on the wrong foot. Bailey put a brave face on Australia's overwhelming defeat by saying: "You don't ever want to have a game like that, whether it's a practice game or not. It's not something we'll be happy with. And there was an extenuating circumstance beyond it being a practice game. Australia fielded a normal XI, while India - in accordance with the custom of their coach Duncan Fletcher - took advantage of the warm-up regulations to deploy their five best bowlers as well as their normal batting line-up. But the embarrassments began after Australia had reduced India to 55 for five through some fine new-ball bowling from Mitchell Starc and Clint McKay, and Bailey could find nothing else in his bowling reserves. India's sixth-wicket pair of Dinesh Karthik and the captain, M S Dhoni, then took Australia's bowling apart in a stand of 211 from only 191 balls. The Australians did not bowl one over of spin. In one over from Mitchell Marsh, the Indian pair scored 22, with Dhoni clubbing six, four, six off consecutive balls. Karthik went on to an unbeaten 146 from only 140 balls while Dhoni hit 91 off 77 balls. Australia's catching wilted under the pressure, as Bailey admitted. We did put some catches down but mostly towards the back end. The worst was yet to come, however, and it was partly self-inflicted. Lacking Clarke, the Australians compounded their batting weakness by demoting their only other experienced batsman, Shane Watson, to No 7. Watson had opened Australia's batting on Saturday against the West Indies and scored a superlative 135 to see his team though to a comfortable victory. But instead of keeping their form player going, Watson was demoted and replaced as opener by the wicketkeeper, Matthew Wade. Faced by India's fine new fast bowler, Umesh Yadav, Wade and Phil Hughes miscued pulls and dragged the ball into their stumps. David Warner edged a flat-footed drive, Bailey was bowled off stump by a ball that left him, and Marsh was caught behind first ball. Yadav's opening spell of five overs brought him figures of five for 18. If England go on to retain the Ashes, this summer Yadav's opening salvo should not be forgotten. Unlike India, Australia had nobody to engineer a recovery and were dismissed in only 23.3 overs. Bailey blamed "ordinary shot-selection." Cardiff has never been the happiest of hunting grounds for Australia. They were beaten by Bangladesh for the first time in a one-day international here in 2005, and failed by one wicket to finish off England in the Ashes Test of 2009. Cardiff does not stage an Ashes Test this summer, but it will in 2015.