10 best players of all time from New South Wales

#5 Michael Clarke

Clarke went on to become one of Australia's greatest captains

Michael Clarke will go down in history as one of sharpest cricketing minds ever produced by Australia.

Great batting prowess, leadership skills par excellence and a tactical mind made Clarke Australian cricket's blue-eyed boy.

The batting prodigy announced his arrival on his Test debut itself, cracking 151 against India in a 2004 Test match at Bangalore.

A month later, Clarke scored a century in his debut Test at home against New Zealand at the Gabba, becoming one of the few cricketers to achieve this feat.

In a stellar 11-year international career, Clarke played 115 Tests and scored 8643 runs including 28 centuries.

Clarke led Australia to a 5-0 whitewash of England in 2013-14, the first Ashes clean sweep in 81 years.

Following their ascent to the summit of the ICC ODI rankings in 2014, Australia won the 2015 World Cup under the leadership of Clarke.