Michael Clarke (cricketer)

Not to be confused with Michael Clark (sportsman).

For other people named Michael Clarke, see Michael Clarke (disambiguation).

Michael Clarke

Personal information
Full name	Michael John Clarke
Born	2 April 1981 (1981-04-02) Liverpool, New South Wales, Australia
Nickname	Pup, Clarkey, Top Dog, Nemo, Eminem
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Batting style	Right-hand
Bowling style	Slow left-arm orthodox
Role	Batsman, Australian Captain
International information
National side	Australia
Test debut (cap 389)	6 October 2004 v India
Last Test	24 January 2012 v India
ODI debut (cap 149)	19 January 2003 v England
Last ODI	28 October 2011 v South Africa
ODI shirt no.	23
Domestic team information
Years	Team
2000–	New South Wales
2004	Hampshire
Career statistics
Competition	Test	ODI	FC	List A
Matches	80	206	142	271
Runs scored	5,909	6,622	10,269	8,440
Batting average	49.65	45.35	46.18	42.84
100s/50s	19/21	6/49	34/37	7/63
Top score	329*	130	329*	130
Balls bowled	1,848	2,314	3,028	3,010
Wickets	24	52	35	77
Bowling average	38.16	37.67	46.89	32.40
5 wickets in innings	1	1	1	1
10 wickets in match	0	0	0	0
Best bowling	6/9	5/35	6/9	5/35
Catches/stumpings	89/–	80/–	148/–	104/–
Source: Cricinfo, 16 January 2011

Michael John Clarke (born 2 April 1981) is a professional Australian cricketer and captain of the Australian cricket team for both test and ODI cricket. Nicknamed 'Pup', he is a right-handed middle-order batsman, and an occasional left-arm orthodox spin bowler. He represents New South Wales at a domestic level.

In January 2011, Clarke stood down as captain of the Australian Twenty20 cricket team to concentrate on his test and ODI performance. He was succeeded by Cameron White.

Career

He made his debut for New South Wales as an eighteen-year-old in the 1999–2000 Australian domestic season. Clarke made his One Day International debut in January 2003 against England at Adelaide.

Clarke was chosen 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. The innings, felt Peter Roebuck, was especially notable for its aggression and freedom. "Not that the assault was reckless," he added. "Indeed the control was impressive. Clarke calculated the risks and took his brains with him down the track. Of course he need [sic] a bit of luck, was plumb in front in the nineties, but few begrudged him his hundred. And everyone except his weary foes celebrated with him and his tearful family when he reached three figures. After all, he had advanced both the match and the game."

Clarke went on to play a major part^{[citation needed]} in Australia's 2–1 series victory, their first in India in over thirty years, contributing figures of 6 for 9 off 6.2 overs in the Fourth Test, which Australia lost.

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.^{[citation needed]}

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 failure 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.^{[citation needed]}

Clarke then helped Australia retain the 2007 Cricket World Cup 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 9 November 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 5 December 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.

Michael Clarke on his way to 99* against England at the Oval in 2010

On 6 January 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.

After the retirement of Adam Gilchrist, in April 2008 Clarke was named vice-captain of the Australian side. Clarke missed the start of Australia's 2008 tour of the West Indies following the death of Bingle's father, meaning Hussey took over as vice-captain for the start of the tour.^{[citation needed]} Soon after Clarke joined up with the squad, he scored a century in the second Test in Antigua, going on to captain the side in the final two One Day Internationals, both of which were won, in the absence through injury of Ponting.

He was named man of the series in the recent two-Test series against New Zealand in Australia with scores of 110, 98 and 10, as well as being the top run-scorer in the three-Test series against South Africa in Australia.^{[citation needed]}

Clarke won the 2009 Allan Border Medal in a tie with Ricky Ponting both scoring 41 points, and was named Test Cricketer of the Year.

In October 2009, Clarke was named as captain of Australia's Twenty20 side, taking over from the retired Ricky Ponting.

Clarke celebrating his century at the SCG in 2012, on the way to scoring a ground record 329* against India.

In January 2011, Clarke was named as stand-in captain for the fifth Test of the 2010-11 Ashes Series at the SCG, replacing the injured Ricky Ponting. He announced his retirement from Twenty20 International cricket on 7 January 2011, to concentrate on the longer forms of the game.

In January 2012, after a string of test centuries since becoming captain, Clarke became the first Australian batsman since Matthew Hayden in 2003 to score a triple hundred. He joined with Ricky Ponting (134) in a partnership of 288, then added 334 with Michael Hussey (150*) before declaring on 329*. This match against India was the 100th test to be played at the SCG, and Clarke's score was both the highest ever made in an Australia-India test (surpassing V. V. S. Laxman's 281 from the 2000/01 season) and the highest ever achieved at the ground. The ground high score record had been held for more than a century by Englishman Reg "Tip" Foster's 287 scored in the 1903/04 season.

Personal life

Clarke is currently dating model and presenter Kyly Boldy. He was formerly engaged to model Lara Bingle. During the Australian Cricket tour of New Zealand in March 2010, Clarke left the tour to return to Sydney for "personal reasons" after Bingle decided to sue her former lover Brendan Fevola for disseminating naked pictures of her, which ended up in a women's magazine. A couple of days later, it was reported that Clarke had ended his relationship and cancelled his wedding to Lara Bingle. Clarke's management confirmed the couple had decided to terminate their engagement in a late night press conference on 12 March 2010.

Career highlights

Tests

• Clarke's previous highest Test batting score of 151 was made against India on his Test debut in Bangalore, 2004–05. 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.
• Clarke's highest test score was previously 168 against New Zealand 2009–10 in Wellington; it was succeeded against India in 2012 where he made 329* in Australia's first innings of the second test at the SCG on 5 January, claiming the record of the highest test match score at the SCG.
• His best Test bowling figures of 6 for 9 (6.2) came against India, Mumbai, 2004–05.
• His first Ashes century came in December 2006, when he hit 124 at the Adelaide Oval to help Australia to victory.
• Dismissed India's last three batsman out in five balls on the fifth day of the 2nd Test against India 6 /1/2008.
• He won Australian Man of the Series in the 2009 Ashes Series. He was nominated by England team director Andy Flower for his "excellent batting".
• He was named full-time one-day and test captain of Australia on 29 March 2011.
• Clarke's highest Test batting score of 329* was made on 5 January 2012 against India. He holds the highest test match batting score at the Sydney Cricket Ground, and has the 4th best Test match batting score of all time by an Australian.
• Clarke followed up his 329* in Sydney with 210 in Adelaide, thereby joining Don Bradman and Wally Hammond as the only players to have made a triple century and a double century in the same series.

An innings-by-innings breakdown of Clarke's Test match batting career as at 5 January 2012, showing runs scored (bars - not out innings in orange, others in blue) and the career to-date batting average (red line). An alternative image showing a 10 innings moving average is also available.

Test centuries

Key

• * denotes that he remained not out.
• ♠ denotes that he was the captain of the Australian team in that match.

Test Match Centuries of Michael Clarke
#	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Year
1	151	1	India	Bangalore, India	M. Chinnaswamy Stadium	2004
2	141	5	New Zealand	Brisbane, Australia	Brisbane Cricket Ground	2004
3	124	24	England	Adelaide, Australia	Adelaide Oval	2006
4	135*	25	England	Perth, Australia	WACA	2006
5	145*	28	Sri Lanka	Brisbane, Australia	Brisbane Cricket Ground	2007
6	118	33	India	Adelaide, Australia	Adelaide Oval	2008
7	110	34	West Indies	North Sound, Antigua	Sir Vivian Richards Stadium	2008
8	112	38	India	Delhi, India	Feroz Shah Kotla	2008
9	110	41	New Zealand	Adelaide, Australia	Adelaide Oval	2008
10	138	44	South Africa	Sydney, Australia	Sydney Cricket Ground	2009
11	136	49	England	London, England	Lord's	2009
12	103*	50	England	Birmingham, England	Edgbaston	2009
13	166	58	Pakistan	Hobart, Australia	Bellerive Oval	2010
14	168	59	New Zealand	Wellington, New Zealand	Basin Reserve	2010
15	112♠	72	Sri Lanka	Colombo, Sri Lanka	Sinhalese Sports Club Ground	2011
16	151♠	73	South Africa	Cape Town, South Africa	Newlands	2011
17	139♠	75	New Zealand	Brisbane, Australia	Gabba	2011
18	329*♠	78	India	Sydney, Australia	Sydney Cricket Ground	2012
19	210♠	80	India	Adelaide, Australia	Adelaide Oval	2012
Clarke is the highest run-maker in Test matches at the SCG on 329*, succeeding Reginald Foster, who previously held the record, with a score of 287.

One-Day Internationals

• Clarke's highest ODI batting score of 130 was made against India, at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore, 2007
• His best ODI bowling figures of 5 for 35 came against Sri Lanka, at Dambulla, 2003–04
• He was the captain of Australia for the 2009 One Dayers as well as Twenty20 matches vs England
• He was named full-time one-day and test captain of Australia on 29 March 2011.

A match-by-match breakdown of Clarke's ODI batting career as at 23 January 2012, showing runs scored (bars - not out innings in orange, others in blue) and the career to-date batting average (red line). An alternative image showing a 10 match moving average is also available.

One-Day International centuries

Key

• * denotes that he remained not out.
• ♠ denotes that he was the captain of the Australian team in that match.

One Day International Match Centuries of Michael Clarke
#	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Year
1	105*	28	Zimbabwe	Harare, Zimbabwe	Harare Sports Club	2004
2	103*	40	Pakistan	Sydney, Australia	Sydney Cricket Ground	2004
3	130	113	India	Bangalore, India	M. Chinnaswamy Stadium	2007
4	100♠*	155	Pakistan	Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates	Sheikh Zayed Stadium	2009
5	111♠*	179	India	Visakhapatnam, India	ACA-VDCA Stadium	2010
6	101♠	196	Bangladesh	Dhaka, Bangladesh	Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium	2011

References

• Roebuck, Peter. "Pup's a brand new dog." Cricinfo. 1 October 2008. [1] (accessed 28 October 2008).
• Daniel Brettig. "It's now about gaining respect as a leader" Interview Cricinfo. 18 April 2011. [2]
• Channel 9. "Live Telecast.1/12/11 Clarke drops easy catch"

External links

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

Preceded by Ricky Ponting	Allan Border Medal winner 2005	Succeeded by Ricky Ponting
Preceded by Brett Lee	Allan Border Medal winner with Ricky Ponting 2010	Succeeded by Shane Watson
Preceded by Ricky Ponting	Australian national cricket captain (T20I) 2009–2011	Succeeded by Cameron White
Preceded by Ricky Ponting	Australian Test cricket captains 2011-	Succeeded by Incumbent
Preceded by Ricky Ponting	Australian One-Day International cricket captains 2011-	Succeeded by Incumbent