Michael Clarke (cricketer)

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Michael Clarke
Australia
Personal information
Full name	Michael John Clarke
Nickname	Pup, Nemo
Born	2 April 1981 (1981-04-02) (age 27)
	Liverpool, New South Wales, Australia
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Role	Batsman
Batting style	Right-hand
Bowling style	Slow left-arm orthodox
International information
Test debut (cap 389)	6 October 2004: v India
Last Test	24 January 2008: v India
ODI debut (cap 149)	19 January 2003: v England
Last ODI	4 March 2008: v India
ODI shirt no.	23
Domestic team information
Years	Team
2000 -	New South Wales
2004	Hampshire
Career statistics
	Tests	ODIs	FC	List A
Matches	33	132	87	193
Runs scored	2,044	3,920	5,666	5,646
Batting average	46.45	44.04	42.92	41.21
100s/50s	6/8	3/29	19/21	4/42
Top score	151	130	201*	130
Balls bowled	529	1,616	1,553	2,312
Wickets	12	38	22	63
Bowling average	22.00	36.89	38.27	30.76
5 wickets in innings	1	1	1	1
10 wickets in match	-	n/a	-	n/a
Best bowling	6/9	5/35	6/9	5/35
Catches/stumpings	29/–	49/–	85/–	73/–
As of 6 March 2008 Source: cricinfo.com

Michael John Clarke (born 2 April 1981 in Liverpool, New South Wales) is an Australian cricketer. Nicknamed 'Pup', 'Nemo' or 'Clarkey', he is a right-handed batsman, highly-regarded fielder and occasional left-arm orthodox spin bowler. He is currently engaged to Australian model Lara Bingle. On 10 January 2007, Sydney tabloid The Daily Telegraph indicated that Clarke may have been involved with Bingle as early as September 2006,^[1]. On 25 March 2008 it was announced that the pair are engaged after Clarke proposed in New York's Central Park.^[2]

Career

He made his debut for New South Wales as an eighteen year old in the 1999-2000 Australian domestic season.

Clarke quickly began showing his potential, after being fast-tracked into the Australian national team, making his One Day International debut in January 2003 against England. He immediately made a name for himself on the international scene for his aggressive yet mature batting ability.

Clarke was selected to make his Test debut against India at Bangalore, October 2004, despite having a first-class average below 40. He succeeded on debut, scoring 151 and consequently helping Australia to victory, invoking comparisons to past Australian batsmen such as Doug Walters and Mark Waugh. Clarke played a major part in Australia's 2-1 series victory, their first in India in over thirty years, contributing outstanding bowling figures of 6 for 9 in the final Test of the series. After this, the media dubbed him the "next captain of Australia".

On his return to Australia he made another debut century, his first home Test in Brisbane against New Zealand, becoming one of the few Test cricketers to have achieved the feat of Test centuries on both their home and away debuts.

In recognition of his performance in the 2004 calendar year, he was awarded the Allan Border Medal in 2005.

Clarke's poor form during the 2005 Ashes series and his failing to score a test century for over a year saw him dropped from the Test team in late 2005. Clarke had previously remarked that one of his career aims was to never be dropped from the Test team. In early 2006, after making his first first-class double century and scoring heavily in ODIs, Clarke was recalled for the tour of South Africa. He was then picked over Andrew Symonds for the April 2006 Tests against Bangladesh. Two consecutive centuries in the second and third Ashes Tests while Shane Watson was injured helped Australia to regain the Ashes and cemented Clarke's position in the Test team.

Clarke then helped Australia retain the World Cup in 2007 in the West Indies where they did not lose a game. After Damien Martyn's retirement he was elevated to number 5 in the batting line up. He had a superb tournament making 4 fifties including a 92 and a 93* against the Netherlands and South Africa. He also made an unbeaten 60 against South Africa in the semi final to guide Australia into the final at Barbados, against Sri Lanka.

Clarke faced only 4 balls for 3 runs in the ICC World Twenty20, when Australia were knocked out by India in the semi final. Two weeks later he made 130 against India in the first of a 7 match ODI series. He did not maintain that form in the remaining 6 matches mustering up just one fifty. He opened the batting in the final 2 games after a hip injury ruled out Matthew Hayden and he made two golden ducks. In the tour-ending Twenty20 match Clarke dropped back down the order with the return of Hayden, and scored 25 not out in a heavy defeat to the current Twenty20 world champions.

On November 9, 2007, Clarke notched up his fifth Test century against Sri Lanka in a two Test series. Clarke shared a 245 run partnership with Mike Hussey at the Gabba in Brisbane, Hussey departed on 133 but Clarke went on and had a partnership with Symonds who made 53*, the pair were unbeaten when Ricky Ponting declared the innings, Clarke top scoring with 145 not out.

On December 5, 2007, Cricket Australia named Clarke as captain of Australia for their one-off Twenty20 game against New Zealand in Perth, after deciding to rest Ponting and Hayden.

Many cricket pundits feel that Clarke should succeed Ricky Ponting as captain of Australia. ^[3]

On January 6, 2008, Clarke dismissed Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh and Ishant Sharma in the second last over of the day, with just 8 minutes remaining, to claim the final three wickets and win the test match for Australia (at one stage he was on a hat trick, dismissing Harbhajan Singh and RP Singh on consecutive deliveries). His innings figures were 3 for 5 in 1.5 overs. Australian captain Ricky Ponting had declared that morning, setting India a total of 333 to chase and allowing Australia arguably too little time to bowl out the visitors. Clarke's wickets ensured that Australia retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2008 and kept their world record equalling 16 match win streak alive.

Teams

National Level

• Australia national cricket team (current)

Australian State Level

• New South Wales Blues (current)

English county

• Hampshire

Career highlights

Tests

Test Debut: vs India, Bangalore, 2004-2005

• Clarke's highest Test batting score of 151 was made against India on his test debut in Bangalore, 2004-2005. He then made 141 against New Zealand in November 2004 on his debut on home-soil at the Gabba (Brisbane, Australia). He became the only Australian to ever score a century on both home and away debuts.
• His best Test bowling figures of 6 for 9 (6.2) came against India, Mumbai, 2004-2005.
• His first Ashes century came in December 2006, when he hit 124 at the Adelaide Oval to help Australia to victory.
• Bowled India's last 3 batsman out in one over on the 5th day of the 2nd test against India 6/7/2008.

An innings-by-innings breakdown of Clarke's Test match batting career, showing runs scored (red bars) and the average of the last ten innings (blue line).

One-day internationals

ODI Debut: vs England, Adelaide, 2002-2003

• Clarke's highest ODI batting score of 130 was made against India, Bangalore, 2007
• His best ODI bowling figures of 5 for 35 came against Sri Lanka, Dambulla, 2003-2004
• Vice Captain 2006-2007 Chappell-Hadlee Series
• Captain 2007-2008 Twenty20 vs New Zealand

References

1. ^ Lara Bingle booed
2. ^ Michael Clarke and Lara Bingle reportedly engaged
3. ^ [http://www.cricketworld.com/australia/article/?aid=14055 Noffke Drafted In, Clarke Named Captain For Twenty20]

External links

• Official Michael Clarke website
• Cricinfo profile on Michael Clarke
• HowSTAT! statistical profile on Michael Clarke

v • d • e Australia squad - 2007 Cricket World Cup (4th title) 8 Clark • 11 McGrath • 14 Ponting (c) • 17 Hodge • 18 Gilchrist • 23 Clarke • 25 Johnson • 28 Hayden • 31 Hogg • 32 Tait • 33 Watson • 48 Hussey • 57 Haddin • 58 Lee • 59 Bracken • 63 Symonds • Coach: Buchanan Brett Lee was named in the original squad but withdrew from the tournament and was replaced by Stuart Clark