Michael Clarke appointed coach of the Prime Minister's XI to face Sri Lanka
What’s the story?
Close to two years after retiring from the international game, Former Australian captain Michael Clarke will now take up coaching duties for the Australian Prime Minister’s XI, who will face Sri Lanka in a T20 game at Canberra.
The former right-hander took to his Twitter handle to announce that he will be coaching the side and thanked Cricket Australia and others for the opportunity.
"The squad has a really good mix of experienced players and some exciting young talent. I played with and against quite a few players in the team during my career, including captain Adam Voges, and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to work alongside him,” Clarke told cricket.co.au after his announcement.
In case you didn’t know..
The 35-year-old two-time World Cup winner has been part of the Channel 9 commentary team, ever since he hung up his boots post the 2015 Ashes campaign, which his side lost 3-2 to England.
Earlier that year, Clarke had announced his retirement from the ODI format, after guiding Australia to their 5th World Cup win, in front of a packed Melbourne Cricket Ground crowd.
The heart of the matter
The Australian PM XI announced for this game consists of many of the players that Clarke played along with during his international career. Adam Voges will be leading the side. having the likes of George Bailey, James Pattinson etc.
Here’s the squad:
Adam Voges (c), George Bailey, Joe Burns, Alex Carey, Arjun Nair, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Jason Sangha, D'Arcy Short, Henry Thornton, Daniel Worrall, Matthew Gikes (12th man)
What’s next?
Clarke will hope that in this solitary opportunity to coach a team, he can begin on a high by winning the game against the Sri Lankans. With this game, he only becomes the latest addition in the famous cricketers-turned coaches list, joining the likes of Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid etc.
Sportskeeda’s take
The appointment of Clarke as the coach of the Prime Minister’s XI is an interesting move and he becomes the latest former Australian cricketer to join the coaching bandwagon. The senior Australian side picked for this T20I series will be coached by former Australian opener Justin Langer with Ricky Ponting and Jason Gillespie serving as his assistants.
It now remains to be seen if Clarke and the others can succeed on their new assignments.