Know About Michael Clarke and His Glorious Achievement From Career

Michael Clarke (cricketer) and His International Career Status-

Not to be confused with Michael Clark (sportsman).

Michael Clarke

Michael Clarke at the SCG in January 2009
Personal information
Full name	Michael John Clarke
Born	2 April 1981 (age 29)(1981-04-02) Liverpool, New South Wales, Australia
Nickname	Pup,Clarkey
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Batting style	Right-hand
Bowling style	Slow left-arm orthodox
Role	Batsman, Australian Twenty20 captain
International information
National side	Australia
Test debut (cap 389)	6 October 2004 v India
Last Test	9 October 2010 v India
ODI debut (cap 149)	19 January 2003 v England
Last ODI	30 June 2010 v England
ODI shirt no.	23
Domestic team information
Years	Team
2000 –	New South Wales
2004	Hampshire
Career statistics
Competition	Test	ODI	FC	List A
Matches	64	178	123	243
Runs scored	4,549	5,509	8,577	7,327
Batting average	48.91	43.03	45.14	40.93
100s/50s	14/19	4/42	28/34	5/56
Top score	168	130	201*	130
Balls bowled	1,684	2,234	2,864	2,930
Wickets	21	52	32	77
Bowling average	38.52	36.26	46.78	31.45
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	66/–	69/–	123/–	93/–
Source: CricketArchive, 14 October 2010

Michael John Clarke (born 2 April 1981) is an Australian cricketer vice captain and the Twenty20 captain of the national team. Nicknamed 'Pup', he is a right-handed batsman, highly-regarded fielder and occasional left-arm orthodox spin bowler.

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 at Adelaide. He immediately made a name for himself on the international scene for his aggressive yet mature batting ability.

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 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.

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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.

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 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 was 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.

Since the retirement of Adam Gilchrist, Clarke has taken over the mantle as Ponting's vice-captain, but 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. 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.

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. His deputy is Cameron White.

During the Australian Cricket tour of New Zealand (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 Friday, 12th 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 of 168 against New Zealand 2009-10 in Wellington.
• 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".

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).

Test Centuries-

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

 

One Day International Centuries-

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

AUSTRALIAN batsman Michael Clarke has been encouraged to return down the batting order by former Test spinner Gavin Robertson after a string of disappointing results. 

Clarke, who entered the first Ashes Test at the Gabba under an injury cloud, was dismissed for nine runs off 50 balls in the first innings, continuing a lackluster run of form with the bat since he moved up the order. 

The vice-captain was promoted to number four for Australia's two-Test series against Pakistan in England in July with a view to cementing the position for the Ashes summer. 

However, Clarke has made just one half-century since his promotion, averaging 20.3 in his new slot. 

Clarke was Australia's leading batsman ahead of the Pakistan series in July, averaging 65.05 while batting down the order in the 13 Tests leading into that series.  

"For me, Michael's got a great record at five and six. Maybe [he should] head back there. I actually do like Hussey at four," Robertson said. 

Clarke's woes with the bat have also reignited debate over who should be Australia's next Test captain. 

Robertson said of the four possible candidates – Clarke, Marcus North, Simon Katich and Shane Watson – Clarke was still the best option. 

 

From Wikipedia-