Biography of Michael Clarke:- Sincere with his profession, in love with the game of cricket and a fighter that never give up till the last delivery or the last remaining run. Michael Clarke isn’t a cricketer; he is a legend, another World Cup winning captain for Australia.
It was Michael Clarke who stood up in hard times to maintain the falling pride of Australian cricket. When Ricky Ponting handed the captaincy to Michael Clarke after an unsuccessful World Cup campaign, Aussies were in great trouble with the new and rather inexperienced team.
Clarke as a middle-order batsman made it happen for Cricket Australia to regain the lost streak of three world cups after an unfortunate discontinuity losing in a quarterfinal against India in 2011.
Biography of Michael Clarke
- Born:- 2 April 1981 (age 36), Liverpool, Australia
- Height:- 1.78 m
- Spouse:- Kyly Clarke (m. 2012)
- Years:- Team
- Last ODI:- 29 March 2015 v New Zealand
Michael Clarke improved his team slowly and steadily, Australia was in bad shape during the initial stages of Clarke’s captaincy as they were passing through a tough transition period.
See Also: Biography of Steve Smith
He finally got it right after a historic Ashes win in 2013, after that, Michael was all over the news stories. His whistle captaincy was criticized at first, later he gave them a shut-up call when Australia became number one in Tests and World Champions under his captaincy.
Michael Clarke played for New South Wales in a Sheffield Shield match when he was 17-years old. After his debut, he became a regular middle-order batsman and an occasional bowler in first-class cricket.
Making his ODI debut after four years and Test debut one year later, he achieved many feats at the peak of his International career.
Michael Clarke Family & Personal Life
Michael Clarke family resides in Australia; he lives with his wife and daughter Kelsey Lee born on November 2015. Michael Clarke wife, KylyBoldy is a businesswoman and famous Australian model girl. They dated for 18 months before getting married on 15 May 2012.
Michael had few affairs with models and influential women in the past, his breakup with ex-fiancé occurred during a tour to New Zealand in 2010. He had to leave the tour half-way through to sort things out. Still, it resulted in a termination of engagement with Lara Bingle in March 2010.
Michael Clarke Test Career:
Michael made his Test debut five years after his debut in first-class cricket. It was away series for Australia that featured its new talent. Clarke had a great batting start in India; he gathered 151-runs in a test match altogether in both innings and a century in one inning on his debut.
In the fourth test against hosts, Clarke gave a remarkable surprise to India by his bowling skills; he took 6 wickets for 9 runs, that too in two balls more than 6 overs. Australia, however, lost the match but they found within themselves an overwhelming talent, a surprise package that could be used on every track.
Later in 2004 when New Zealand toured Australia, Clarke made another century on his debut becoming one of the few players to do so. The year 2005 wasn’t lucky for Michael Clarke, he failed in both the departments i.e. bowling and batting that resulted in a humiliating defeat of Australia against England.
Clarke not performing up to his full extent was dropped from the test team, he was given time to gather his form back and to hit the deck as soon as possible.
He was called again for a tour of South Africa after his impressive run-scoring performances in ODIs and first-class. After a couple of humble innings, Clarke made a comeback by scoring two centuries in Ashes 2006; he seemed a permanent member of Australia test team by then.
In 2007, Clarke had a successful home run; he scored a century and also a record partnership of 251 with Mr. Cricket Mike Hussey. Clarke was 145 not out before innings was declared. Later in 2008 in a Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Australia was all over the hosts in every department.
Particularly in the spin bowling department, Clarke had a huge contribution when he changed the whole equation for India by bowling out three batsmen of India in the second last over of the match.
His performances in the next year against South Africa and New Zealand earned him ‘Test Cricketer of the year award’ and a man of the series award against New Zealand in Australia. He had the highest batting average in the series that earned him the best player award.
Clarke was made the captain of the team in ODI and Test cricket in 2011. Later in 2012, Clarke made a triple century against India as a captain. The triple century was then followed by a tremendous and classic double century at Adelaide Oval and another win for Australia.
Michael Clarke whitewashed Indian cricket team by 4-0; it was his first series whitewash after becoming captain. After the conclusion of his International career, the year 2012 was the most successful year of his career.
Michael Clarke, from 2011-2012, scored 8 centuries, that included his three double centuries out of the four in his entire career and a triple century. He was named and awarded as test player of the year, number one in Test player rankings, and Wisden Cricketer of the year that season.
After repeated hamstring and back injuries in 2014-15, Michael Clarke started thinking of a retirement plan that he adopted in mid-2015 as he said, I don’t know I will ever recover completely from these injuries.
He played 115 test matches, scored 8000+ runs with an average near to 50 runs per innings. He had more centuries as compared to fifties throughout the career. Michael Clarke stats illustrate he was a scarce talent and a guru of converting fifties to hundreds, tons to double tons, and double centuries to mighty triple centuries.
With 28 hundred and 27 fifties, his top score remained 329 not out, his bowling figures are acceptable when compared to the batting stats.
ODI & T20i Career:
Clarke was the best test batsman for Australia, he scored great in One Day Internationals, carried the legacy of winning a World Cup for Australia after they lost the title in 2011.
Clarke made his ODI debut in a home series against England in Adelaide Oval in 2003, Clarke made an impact with his left-arm bowling and right-hand batting as he, along with Shane Watson cruised Australia to the victory in an important VB Series match.
Michael Clarke was made the captain of the ODI side after Ponting retired from One Day Internationals playing his last game against India in a losing cause. Clarke rebuilt the dangling Aussie cricket, he led from the front.
His T20 international career didn’t last much as he retired from the shorter format and captaincy to concentrate more on ODI and Test cricket.
Michael Clarke Stats & Records
The proudest moment for Michael Clarke was to win the fifth world cup for Australia, that too, on their home ground. Clarke was given a farewell with honor, a much-deserved one in ODI cricket as he was the fifth Australian captain to bring back the cup for Australia.
Clarke had a brilliant tournament in 2015 that ended up with his match-winning performance; he scored 74 runs in a low-scoring final making sure the Cup gets home. His average in ODIs is as impressive as one could expect, he had a batting average of 44.42 after playing 244 One Day International matches.
With 7907 runs, 8 centuries, and 58 fifties, Clarke stood as one of the most consistent middle order batsmen of Cricket Australia in ODIs. During his captaincy, he had rough times with players along with the then coach Mickey Arthur; many of his teammates openly criticized the captaincy and his approach as a captain.
Clarke was part of the controversy with Cricket Australia when Mickey Arthur was replaced by Darren Lehmann as a new coach of Australia.
Clarke wasn’t much attracted to T20 cricket, he was a standard cricketer, and he loved the classical test and ODI cricket rather than a more “glamorous” version of cricket. He was sold to Pune Warriors in 2012 season of Indian Premier League. Michael Clarke captains Sydney Thunders, his hometown franchise in Big Bash League since 2013.
Michael Clarke retirement and his post-retirement plans include playing cricket leagues around the world along with the Big Bash he is already a part of. As of 2017, it may likely produce a chance of his inclusion in some of the big cricket leagues for the2017-2018 season. He is likely to debut in PSL and Caribbean Premier League or make a comeback in upcoming IPL seasons in 2017-18.
Michael was one of the closest friends of late cricketer Phil Hughes; he was captain of Phil in domestic and international cricket. After Phil Hughes’ death in a domestic Sheffield Shield match, it was Michael Clarke who handled media and Hughes family through that painful period for Australia and cricket fans.
Announcing Hughes death, Michael broke down in tears many times during the press conference, he left the briefing to control his overwhelming emotions about a 24-year old International cricketer and his best friend. On Clarke request, Phil Hughes ODI jersey number 64 was retired by Cricket Australia to honor the late cricketer.
