Rating the Australian ODI captains in the last two decades

#3 Michael Clarke (2011-2015) - 7/10

Clarke was a brilliant tactician

Under Ricky Ponting, Australia had failed to reach the semi-final of the 2011 World Cup and that prompted a change in captaincy. Star batsman Michael Clarke was made the captain, at a time when Australia were transitioning. Big names had retired and it was time for them to build a team that could compete hard at the 2015 World Cup to be held in Australia and New Zealand.

Although Australia did not scale the heights of the teams led by Steve Waugh and his predecessor Ponting, they played out of their skins in the home World Cup to become the first nation to win the global event five times.

Clarke retired from ODIs following the World Cup and recorded a win percentage of 67.57% in 74 games. His stint as captain was also littered with plenty of injury-related absences and it might be argued that, while he did lead Australia to a World Cup win, he could have achieved much more had he been able to play more ODI games.

As a tactician, Clarke was probably better than both Steve Waugh and Ponting, but his record does not reflect that, unfortunately.