Written by Jaideep Vaidya
Published: Apr 02, 2013, 11:54 AM (IST)
Edited: Aug 20, 2014, 12:09 AM (IST)
Michael Clarke is the epitome of a team man, a true warrior upon whose shoulders the Australian team currently stands © Getty Images
Born on April 2, 1981, Michael Clarke is one of the most bold and aggressive captains in world cricket today. Jaideep Vaidya looks back at the career of ‘Pup’, a born-leader with the archetypal Australian pugnaciousness and pluck.
There are two types of captains in cricket in terms of their approach to a game. The first category of includes those who aim to win; the other includes those who aim to not lose. Now, there is a marked difference between the two. On one hand, you have a belligerent leader who will fling everything including the kitchen sink at the opposition even when his team is staring down the barrel. He will be relentless in his pursuit for victory, right down to the last ball, not letting up — or allowing his team to withdraw — till the end. On the other hand, you have a leader who will sit back and ensure that his team doesn’t lose, never mind if they don’t win (This is, of course, only possible in sports like cricket and football, where a draw is a potential result). Michael Clarke, without a shred of doubt, belongs to the first category.
Clarke took over from one of Australia’s most successful captains, Ricky Ponting, at the end of the 2011 World Cup. Ever since, he has been like a breath of positive fresh air on the team. His approach to every game in which he leads his team out is based on one imperative: Give your body, heart and soul and play for a win, or else go down fighting and take as many down with you as possible.
The fearless bravado reflecting from Clarke’s brand of captaincy certainly isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. It requires a truckload of guts, knowing that the chances of your team losing increase. Ian Chappell rightly wrote in a column for ESPNcricinfo that: “The first thing a captain like Clarke understands is that he will lose some matches in constantly striving for victory.” But then, these guys would rather lose than accept a draw. They would rather go for broke at 1-2 down with the clock ticking towards 90 minutes, shove all 11 players towards the opposition’s goal and risk conceding another goal; whether it’s 2-1 or 3-1, a loss is a loss. They would rather declare on Day Five at 160 for eight and give their bowlers 215 runs and 60 overs to try and get 10 wickets, than shake hands for a draw and take an early shower.
Clarke came under some flak in Port of Spain a year ago for his ambitious declaration, but vowed to keep giving his team even a sniff of a win with the risk of it all backfiring. “My goal my whole career has been to help the Australian team win as many games as possible and I guess now that I am captain I have the opportunity to show that,”he said after the match eventually ended in a draw. “At times with my declaration, when there is a chance for winning, you’ve got to have a go at it. There’s going to be times that it might backfire and we might lose every now and then. But I enjoy the brand of cricket that we’re playing at the moment.”
Thus, it came as no surprise when Clarke recently declared Australia’s first innings at 237 for nine a few minutes before stumps on Day One of the second Test at Hyderabad following his own dismissal. It came as no surprise at the SCG during India’s tour Down Under in 2011-12 when Clarke declared the innings when he was on 329 not out and going steaming towards Brian Lara’s world record of 400. Australia’s cause was more important than personal milestones.
Clarke has always put his team first. Even during the infamous ‘Homeworkgate’ controversy, after being laid into by the public back home for axing four players — including the vice-captain — from a match for failing to follow team orders, Clarke stressed that no individual is bigger than the team. In an emotional interview with Cricket Australia, he said, “I think the one thing that I want the players and the public back home to understand is that to represent Australia is a huge honour. We owe the game a helluva lot every time we walk on to the field, not the other way around; the game owes us nothing. So, if you are not going to up-heed to the standards of the Australian cricket team, if you’re not going to do everything in your power to help the team — to help yourself — have success, especially when you’re 2-0 down in the series, then unfortunately there’s consequences [sic].”
That’s how Clarke has always been, ever since his debut in 2004 against India at Bangalore. Sprightly, aggressive and a vivacious 23-year-old who had played for his local New South Wales side, the blonde-topped ‘Pup’ strode in to the middle of the Chinnaswamy Stadium with Australia on a jittery 149 for four.
Clarke had scored a century for Australia A against Sourav Ganguly’s team during the Australian summer of 2003-04. Ten months later, he was making his Test debut against a bowling attack he knew well. But as commentator Sanjay Manjrekar stressed, this was a whole new proposition; this was Test cricket. Anil Kumble had “his tail up” and was in the zone at his home ground, with an equally charged-up Harbhajan Singh for company. Kumble’s first ball to Clarke struck him on the pads in front, but it was a no ball. Kumble walked back to his mark-up with a gleaming look in his eyes, reminiscent of a cheetah who is eyeing a kill. But this was no easy kill, as Kumble and the Indians soon found out.
Having survived the early heebie-jeebies, Clarke laid into the Indian bowling and raced his way to a memorable 151 on ‘dayboo’. Clarke had no qualms charging down the track against Kumble and Harbhajan and whipping them in the ‘V’. His footwork would have put a tap dancer to shame, as Clarke showed the first signs of how comfortable he is against quality spin bowling, on rank turners nonetheless. Clarke played an integral part in Australia, at long last, conquering their final frontier, beating India 2-1. In the Mumbai Test, he showed what magic he could weave around his fingers bowling slow left-arm orthodox, with a spell of six for nine. A month-and-a-half later, he notched up another debut century — this time at home against New Zealand.
But before anyone could say he had arrived, a string of mediocre — by the standards he had set — performances against Pakistan, England and the West Indies led him to being dropped from the squad late 2005. A distraught Clarke “went to my mum and dad’s place and was in shock to the point of tears. I cried myself to sleep it was that bad,”he told GQ magazine in an interview. However, “the next day Dad pulls me up and says, ‘Mate, this can go one of two ways. You can stay here or you can get back into training tomorrow morning and you will get yourself back in the team.’”After four days of working on his technique, Clarke scored a double century for NSW against Queensland. “I’ve had career challenges, but they’ve taught me to be even more determined.” Back in the national team for the 2006-07 Ashes, Clarke hit tons at Adelaide and Perth as Australia wrested back the coveted little urn with a 5-0 whitewash. Now, Clarke had arrived.
In the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean, Clarke hit four half-centuries that helped Australia win the tournament for the third successive time. His consistency with the bat and partnership-breaker status with the ball, along with his unmistakable leadership qualities, led him to be named vice-captain after Adam Gilchrist’s retirement in 2008. A year later, he took over the T20 captaincy after Ponting’s retirement from the format. By now, Clarke was a star.
His sudden rise to popularity, much against his wishes, was facilitated by a relationship with popular fashion model and socialite Lara Bingle. It wasn’t long before the couple had become the David and Victoria Beckham of Australia. Their engagement in 2008 was splashed across newspapers, magazines and websites like paint. However, it all meant nothing to Clarke. “What’s fame?” he would say. “Being in the paper? Going to a bar, and people knowing who you are? I don’t think anybody starts out looking for that. For me, all I wanted to be was the best cricketer I could be. If that means getting well known along the way, then that’s what you have to expect as part of the territory.”
What he did not expect as being part of the territory was the intense scrutiny and interest in his private life. He yearned for people to just look at his cricket, but had to eventually accept being a public figure. Thus, when the couple broke off their engagement in early 2010 and Clarke flew back midway of a New Zealand tour, his princely celebrity status came crashing down. All of a sudden, Clarke was public enemy No 1. How could a professional cricketer abandon his team in the middle of a tour to attend to a personal crisis? “My decision that I made there, was what I thought was right,” Clarke would say. “I respect playing for my country that much that I thought, if I’m going to let anybody down, I shouldn’t be here — there’s somebody else who could be doing a better job than me. Going home was the right decision at the time for me. I don’t regret that decision.”
The explanation wasn’t good enough for the Australian public. When Clarke took over Test and ODI captaincy from Ponting in 2011, it polarised opinion. On one hand, he was a dynamic player, a go-getter with the archetypal Australian pugnaciousness, whose leadership skills were spotted at the very beginning of his career and was the perfect guy for leading a team in transition. On the other hand, he was a bad-boy superstar celebrity who had let his personal life affect his professional. How could he be given the responsibility of leading a team in transition? This time, Clarke chose to let his skills do the talking.
The year 2012 will forever be known as The Year of Clarke in the cricketing world. Starting with the magnificent 329 not out against India, the Australian captain became the first man to record four scores of 200 or more in a calendar year.It was a feat that even the great Sir Don Bradman hadn’t achieved. Clarke piled on a phenomenal 1,595 runs at 106.33 in 2012 and rose to No 1 in the ICC Test Rankings for a brief period.
In charge of a young and inexperienced side, he could not prevent defeats to South Africa and India in 2012-13, but there is no doubt that he is the right man to lead Australia into the double Ashes later this year and further on. Clarke is the epitome of a team man — a true warrior upon whose shoulders the Australian team currently stands. His hair may have shortened during his nine years in international cricket, but his drive and hunger have only gotten bigger.
With 7,275 runs in 92 Tests at 52.33, it shouldn’t be long before he enters the 10,000 club. But then, of course, personal gratification means nothing to him; he is the kind of player who would sacrifice all his runs and tons in exchange for an Australian win, and not expect anything in return. “I just want to be remembered as a kid who chased his dreams as hard as he could, and succeeded,” he once said. For a boy who had pictures of Michael Slater, Brian Lara and a black Ferrari on his bedroom wall, not many would differ that he has done well.
(JaideepVaidya is a multiple sports buff and a writer at CricketCountry. He has a B.E. in Electronics Engineering, but that isn’t fooling anybody. He started writing on sports during his engineering course and fell in love with it. The best day of his life came on April 24, 1998, when he witnessed birthday boy Sachin Tendulkar pummel a Shane Warne-speared Aussie attack from the stands during the Sharjah Cup Final. A diehard Manchester United fan, you can follow him on Twitter @jaideepvaidya. He also writes a sports blog – The Mullygrubber )
Photo Gallery: Michael Clarke’s life in pictures