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 16^th 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.

Australia coach Mickey Arthur and test captain Michael Clarke look on during the ICC Champions Trophy Group A fixture between Sri Lanka and Australia at The Kia Oval on June 17, 2013 in London, England. (Getty Images)

Despite never being a T20 specialist, under his leadership, Australia ended as runners-up to England in the 2010 edition of the tournament in the West Indies. He retired from the format in January 2011 and inherited captaincy from Ponting, who gave up the job after a quarterfinal defeat to India in the 2011 World Cup. And what followed next was something remarkable as “Pup” went on a ridiculously high-scoring streak.

After scoring his first three centuries as Test captain against Sri Lanka, South Africa and New Zealand respectively, Clarke broke all scoring records as he went on to score a mammoth 626 runs at an average of 125.20 in the 2011-12 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Clarke played breathtaking knocks of 329* and 210, with the latter being the highest individual score at the Sydney Cricket Ground, in front of his home crowd. His exploits led Australia to a 4-0 series victory.

He followed it up with 259* and 230 against the touring South Africans and became the first player in history to score four double centuries in a single calendar year. Continuing with his free-scoring run, he was the only one to take the fight to India and ended the series as Australia’s highest run-getter and only centurion, despite missing the last match of the series. He ended the season with 1595 Test runs and quite deservedly was named the Wisden Cricketer of the Year.

Known for his no nonsense approach as captain, Clarke has shown zero-tolerance towards indiscipline and was instrumental in the sacking of Andrew Symonds during an ODI series against Bangladesh, as he preferred to go on a fishing trip over attending a team meeting. Not to forget the recent (in)famous “Homework-Gate”.

Despite being the captain of what seems like the weakest Australian side in a long time, his record is still impressive, having won 32 out of 50 ODIs and 12 out of 24 Tests and 12 out of 18 T20s. But it’s the current form that matters, and on that front, Clarke will have to do something special to change the fortunes of his team.

With all his history of back problems, Clarke’s availability for the Ashes was Australia’s biggest concern. With him about to make a comeback, there is something for the Aussies to be optimistic about; they don’t really have anything else to cheer about these days anyway. For Australia to even put up a fight, they will need Clarke at his absolute best, both as a batsman and leader.

He, however, cannot win an entire series on his own and would need support of other the batsmen. But with most of them looking clueless, things don’t appear too bright. To rally his wards, he needs to first lift the morale of his team and try and bring the best out of them. Unfortunately, that looks impossible currently. They say a captain is good as his team; that, though, is not the scenario here. The simple truth is that the captain here is better than the rest of his team.

With his back being literally against the wall, Pup desperately needs some lady luck to shine brightly on him and his boys.

Are you listening Mrs. Kyly Clarke?