After the entire brouhaha over Michael Clarke dropping out of the Australia-New Zealand ODIs to be at the side of his fiance, he will be expected to feature in the Test matches against the Kiwis starting next week.

It remains to be seen, though, how far will his decision to go back home in the middle of the series to be at the side of a media-hungry fiancé affect his chances to become the next Australian Test match captain.

Clarke had featured in the first ODI of the series but flew back to Australia after his fiancé, Lara Bingle, was involved in a controversy when nude pictures of her were published in a magazine. The pictures had been snapped by her ex-boy friend, and sold to the magazine.

However, what could have irked the current Australian vice-captain, Clarke, and put the relationship on the rocks, is that his fiancé then sold the rights to speak against the incident to the same magazine! As a future Test match captain hopeful, such off the field controversies could barely help his cause, and according to many commentators, a break-up is on the cards.

Currently, Clarke is still in Australia, but has been named in the Australian Test match squad.

The current Australian captain, Ricky Ponting, has signalled his intentions to regain the Ashes that the Aussies had lost to England in 2009, but whether he will be around to win the Ashes in England in 2013 is a big question. And if Ponting does not last the distance, there is a fair chance that the selectors would want to groom the next captain much before those Ashes.

This year, the Ashes will be competed for in Australia, with Bwin offering 3/5 for Australia to regain it. Bwin also offers 15/4 for England to win the Ashes in Australia, but the last time that happened was in 1986-87! Sporting Bet offers 5/1 for a drawn series, which will mean that England will retain the urn.