Australia’s attempt to win next month’s World Cup and, potentially, the forthcoming Ashes in England, appears to be being threatened by a bitter, behind-the-scenes fallout between Michael Clarke and Cricket Australia.

Clarke, the national team’s captain, is facing a race to recover from a torn hamstring in time for Australia’s second game of the World Cup against Bangladesh in Brisbane on 21 February. That is the deadline handed to him by the governing body and given that Clarke’s camp are said to have previously, and privately, agreed a return date for the team’s fourth match of the tournament, many are interpreting that as his superiors setting the 33-year-old up to fail.

Clarke is said to be adamant he will be back for the Bangladesh game. Many, though, think that to be unlikely. Meanwhile, uncertainty over their captain’s participation is an unwanted sideshow for the tournament favourites.

The genesis of Clarke’s feud with Cricket Australia officials – including the national team’s coach, Darren Lehmann – are believed to be the long-running issues he has had with back and hamstring injuries. Indeed, back in November Clarke was set to be dropped for the first Test against India, with Phillip Hughes in line to replace him in the team.

However, the tragic death of Hughes, who was felled by a bouncer at the SCG shortly before that India series was originally scheduled to start, and the admirable way Clarke handled the aftermath, including a moving speech at his late team-mate’s funeral in Macksville, led to the wind changing briefly. Clarke, who had public sentiment and goodwill behind him, led Australia in the first match following the Hughes tragedy, the rearranged opening Test against India in Adelaide, where he scored a century but tore a hamstring.

In his absence, the form of Steve Smith, Clarke’s stand-in as captain, has been extraordinary, with hundreds in four successive Tests, during which he broke a record held by Don Bradman for the most series runs scored against India by an Australian.

Smith, named on Tuesday Australia’s player of the year at the Allan Border Medal ceremony in Sydney, has been a hugely popular leader. The players have seemingly moved on from Clarke, a position that is believed to have become more entrenched since their captain took his position in the Channel 9 commentary box for the Melbourne and Sydney Tests against India, with his discussion of on-field strategies and critiquing of team-mates said to have gone down like a lead balloon.

In an echo of England’s travails with Kevin Pietersen, Clarke’s future appears a ticking time bomb. If, as seems likely, it goes off during the World Cup, the fallout could not only pollute Australia’s hopes in the tournament but linger long into the English summer.