Michael Clarke on course to play in the first Test against India in Adelaide

Michael Clarke’s prospects of playing in the first Test against India next week have improved after coming through a training session without any reaction to his troublesome hamstring.

Despite the trauma of the death of his close friend Phillip Hughes, the Australia captain is desperate to lead his team in what promises to be an emotionally charged match starting on Tuesday in Adelaide.

It is understood he stood up to a running session at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday morning and will now join up with his team-mates in Adelaide where he will train again on Saturday.

Asked about Clarke on Friday, coach Darren Lehmann said: “We want our captain playing.

“He flies in this afternoon. We’ll get him batting tomorrow and see how he goes. It’ll be case of if he’s fine, he’ll play. We’ll just have to wait and see.

“We’ll be guided by medical staff, the captain himself, selectors. We’ll get together and assess what the plan is tomorrow.”

Clarke was set to miss the first Test – originally set for this week in Brisbane – after he was forced out of the one-day series against South Africa in November after suffering the hamstring problem for the third time since August.

But the delay to the series caused by Hughes’ death appears to have given him more time to recover.

Clarke and the entire Test squad – which has grown to 13 with the inclusion on Thursday of batsman Shaun Marsh – attended Hughes’ funeral in Macksville in NSW on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Clarke attended a private cremation in Macksville with Hughes’ family while his teammates started to make their way to Adelaide.

“He’s pretty mentally strong, as you saw throughout the week,” Lehmann said of Clarke’s likely mindset should he lead Australia out in the emotional Test. “He held himself together really well and led the team really well.”

The entire squad remains devastated by Hughes’ shock death.

Lehmann said it was too early to speculate who will or won’t be right to start the four-Test series.

“Time will tell, but today we’ll get out there and see how we go,” he said prior to Australia’s first training session since Hughes by struck by a bouncer at the SCG.

“Now it’s a matter of rallying around each other, rallying around his family and the whole CA (Cricket Australia) family.”

Lehmann said he wouldn’t expect Australia to be trained at full intensity for a few days.

“Probably not today, but certainly by the weekend. By Sunday or Monday I’d expect them to be going 100 per cent,” he said.

Australia will train at a suburban oval on the fringes of the CBD, turning down the chance to have a run on Adelaide Oval.

“We could have gone there. We decided to come out into the open air,” Lehmann said.