Being Michael Clarke
Michael Clarke will have to be at his sublime best is Australia stand a chance at winning the Ashes. (Getty Images)
After a disastrous campaign in the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy, not many are expecting Australia to even put up a fight in the forthcoming Ashes against their arch-rivals England. The 4-0 whitewash in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in India and the aforementioned Champions Trophy debacle has firmly established the fact that the Australians are no longer a force to reckon with.
The back injury of skipper Michael Clarke, which ruled him out of all the three matches at the Champions Trophy, gave the Australians a mighty scare ahead of the battle for the historic urn. However, amidst all the gloom comes some relief for them, as reports have emerged that “Pup” is all set to make his comeback in a warm-up game against Somerset, which means that he is on course to lead them in the Ashes.
For a team, down on morale and confidence, and completely devoid of quality batsmen, this piece of news must be a massive boost. Clarke, after all, is the best Test batsman in the world and holds the status of being the current Wisden Cricketer of the Year. Clearly, the man from Liverpool in New South Wales has come a long way, from being a blonde haired debutant to being the captain of a struggling, once-mighty team.
Having already made his ODI debut against England in 2003, Clarke went on to score a match-winning 151 on Test debut against India in the first Test of the 2004 Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Bangalore. In the land dubbed as the “final frontier” by former captain Steve Waugh, the young Clarke went on to play a major role in Australia’s first Test series victory in India in more than 30 years.
Back home, he scored yet another century, this time against New Zealand at Brisbane, in what was his first Test on home soil. This unique feat earned him the distinction of being one of the few players to have scored a century on both their away and home debuts.
After solidifying his place in the one-day side, he suffered a loss of form in Tests and performed poorly in the 2005 Ashes, which led to him being dropped from the Test side. However, after scoring heavily in the domestic season, he was brought back and went on to score his first two Ashes centuries in the second and third Tests of the 2006-07 Ashes, which cemented his pace in the Test side as well.
After a good showing in the 2007 World Cup, which saw Australia defend its crown successfully without losing a game, Cricket Australia decided to groom Clarke as a future leader and he was named the captain for a one-off T20 game against New Zealand in December 2007. He was made vice-captain after Adam Gilchrist’s retirement in 2008.
During this time he also played a major role in winning the controversial Sydney Test against India by taking three Indian wickets in an over, to ensure a 16th consecutive Test win for Australia. Continuing his role as a future leader, Clarke took over as T20 captain after Ricky Ponting’s retirement from the format in October 2009, which followed Australia disastrous first round exit from the 2009 World T20 in England.