Published: Aug 20, 2015, 12:51 PM (IST)
Edited: Aug 20, 2015, 01:17 PM (IST)
Australian skipper Michael Clarke will play his final International cricket match as the final Test of Ashes 2015. Bharath Seervi lists some important milestones and records Clarke can get to in his final appearance.
Michael Clarke retired from ODIs after leading Australia to ICC World Cup 2015 victory in March this year. He has now announced his retirement from Tests after leading Australia to an Ashes defeat. Australia defeated an unbeaten India in the semi-final and an unbeaten New Zealand in the finals to lift the World Cup under the leadership of Clarke in their home country. Unfortunately, they lost The Ashes to England who did not even reach the knockout stage of the World Cup. It is true that the formats were different, as were the teams and venues; but Clarke led on both occasions had probably the best and worst moments of his career in a span of about just six months. READ– Ashes 2015: Michael Clarke expects 5th Test to end in 3 days
Australians are 1-3 in Ashes 2015; the fifth Test at The Oval will be a dead rubber. But fans will remember the Test as the last for Clarke and Chris Rogers. If some experts are to be believed the fans would see this as the last match of few other cricketers as well!
Before the fifth Test begins, let us see what are the possible milestones and records that Clarke can aim before his retirement.
1. Clarke needs to score at least 172 runs if he gets out once, or 222 if he gets out twice to finish his career with a batting average of 50.
2. Clarke scored 151 runs in his debut test innings against India at Chinnaswamy in October 2004. If he scores a hundred in his last test innings it will make him only the third player after Greg Chappell and Mohammad Azharuddin to score centuries in the first and last Test innings of their career. Bill Ponsford and Reggie Duff are the others who scored centuries in their first and last Tests, but not in their first and last innings. Andy Ganteaume and Rodney Redmond, of course, had scored centuries in their career’s only Test.
3. If Clarke gets a duck, he will join 10 others with century in first Test and a duck in last Test.
4. Clarke needs 69 runs to complete 4,000 Test runs as captain. He will become only the eighth captain if he gets there. Of them, three are Australians — Allan Border (6,623), Ricky Ponting (6,542) and Greg Chappell (4,209).
5. Clarke needs a century to become the joint third-highest century scorer as captain in Tests after Graeme Smith (25) and Ponting (19). It will also be Clarke’s 15th century as captain. Border and Steve Waugh also have 15 centuries as captains.
6. Clarke currently has 2,226 in Ashes Tests. He needs 8 to go past Bill Lawry and 38 to go past Victor Trumper to finish eighth for Australia in Ashes Tests. At seventh spot is Neil Harvey (2,416), 190 ahead of Clarke.
7. Two more century partnerships for Clarke will take the number of century partnerships he has been involved in tests to 50. Ponting (85), Steve Waugh (64), Border (63) and Matthew Hayden (50) are the only Australians to be involved in 50 or more century partnerships.
8. If Clarke stays at the crease when five of his teammates get out in front of him, he will have witnessed 200 dismissals from the other end in Tests. Border (364), Steve Waugh (348) and Ponting (227) are the only Australians who have watched 200 or more dismissals from the other end in Tests. READ: Michael Clarke accepts there will be no fairytale ending to his international career
9. One more century will make Michael Clarke equal Don Bradman’s 29 Test 100s. He has scored 28 centuries and 27 fifties in his career so far. Of retired batsmen with 20 or more Test centuries, Hayden (30 100s, 29 50s), Bradman (29 100s, 13 50s) and Azhar (22 100s, 21 50s) are the only ones who have scored more hundreds than fifties. Clarke can maintain this if he continues his present form of only two fifties in his final last 30 innings and none in the last 12 innings!
10. Clarke has batted in 197 innings from 114 Tests. Given Australia’s form and if rain does not interfere, he is likely to finish on 199 Test innings. Shane Warne is the only player who has batted in exactly 199 Test innings.
11. Clarke needs to have a partnership of 4 with Steven Smith to complete 1,000 partnership runs between them. He also needs 128 with David Warner for the same milestone. He already has 1,000 partnership runs with Michael Hussey (3,372), Ponting (2,330), Brad Haddin (1,353) and Marcus North (1,032). For Australia Ponting has scored 1,000-run partnerships with most partners (8). Clarke can get to second best (6) joining Greg Chappell, Border and Mark Waugh. READ: Pat Cummins may replace Josh Hazlewood in final Test
(Bharath Seervi is a cricket statistician who is obsessed with digging numbers, facts and records related to the game. An active member of Society of Cricket Statisticians of India, he blogs at www.cricketseervistats.blogspot.com. He can be followed on Twitter at @SeerviBharath and on Facebook here)
