Ashes squad to keep mum on injuries Chronic back problem: Michael Clarke. Australia's desperation to gain any competitive advantage they can in the Ashes has led them to declare they won't divulge the nature of any injuries suffered during a match unless the player is ruled out of a Test. As the countdown begins for the first Test against England, which starts at Brisbane's Gabba on November 21, Michael Clarke's side is already down on numbers for fitness reasons - fast bowlers Mitchell Starc, James Pattinson and Jackson Bird are unavailable and the captain is battling to overcome the latest flare-up of his chronic back problem. After being on the wrong end of a 3-0 Ashes series that wound up in August, Australian officials will fiercely protect information about players breaking down in the course of a Test this summer. Unavailable: Jackson Bird. "If a player suffers an injury that rules him out of the match, we'll tell you," Cricket Australia's general manager of team performance Pat Howard said. But if it doesn't rule him out ... we've got a chance to get a player up in a day or 36 hours to play. If he can play the Test match, and keep playing but he's got a minor calf injury, really should we be telling you that? Every sportsman has got a little niggle. In a Test match, a player can play in 24 hours' time. We can turn injuries around in 24 to 48 hours ... it's not like some of the other sports. The adoption of subterfuge around injuries is not entirely new for Australia. At the MCG last year it did not emerge until the evening of day two of the second Test against Sri Lanka that all-rounder Shane Watson had picked up a calf injury that eventually scratched him from the final match of that series in Sydney. Watson had suffered the injury while bowling on Boxing Day, but batted the following day, making 83. There was also concern about Watson when he left the ground during the first Test against England at Trent Bridge in July before returning to the field and later opening the batting. Mitchell Starc. Australian coach Darren Lehmann answered queries in that instance, saying Watson had a niggle in his lower leg. But the fact that players' fitness problems can be turned around so quickly in a five-day match with the help of the team's medical staff has convinced Australian management that the less they say the better. "You saw that at Trent Bridge - we got a player up that you thought was out for a long period and he played the whole series," Howard pointed out. James Pattinson. One worry expressed by Howard is that opposition teams could place more fieldsmen back on the boundary if they learnt that an Australian batsman was playing with a leg injury or such, therefore putting pressure on him score by running, rather than just hitting to or over the fence. The stance was endorsed by Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland when it was announced at a briefing with senior CA officials in Sydney. "I don't think we should be giving up competitive advantage in the middle of the game," Sutherland said. After series losses in India and England - Australia have won only one of their 10 Tests this year and that was in January against Sri Lanka at the SCG - it appears any edge they can manage over the old enemy is being grabbed at. "We do think if we play our best we will win," Howard said. Twitter - @ChrisBarrett_