Michael Clarke: The agonising final stretch

Ankit Banerjee talks about the trials and tribulations of Michael Clarke and the battle that he has fought in recent times.

A day ahead of the 2015 World Cup final in March, Michael Clarke had just taken the lid off the cooker announcing at the pre-match press conference that it shall be his last One-Day International (ODI). Not out of form, but also not enjoying the best of times, he felt it was time to pass on the mantle of captaincy.

Retirement from ODIs was still a day away and Clarke still had one last opportunity to marshal his troops. He still had to wake up in the morning and train with the team. All this to throw the kitchen sink one last time, in the same manner that he had conducted himself, for a little over a decade. He did not know if he would be able to score, doubts had crept into his system with niggles in his body.

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What unfolded at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) was a sporting Cinderella. He led Australia to the World Cup win in front of a record 93,000 people against New Zealand by emerging as the top scorer with 74 of just 72 balls  — a perfect ODI retirement script. Unfortunately, the tale twists here as the same has not happened in the longest format of the game. Clarke has struggled with his batting. He hasn’t been able to bail his team out of trouble against a resurgent England. Worse, he has lost the Ashes.

The knowledgeables will vouch for the fact that Clarke works really hard. According to various English and Australian feeds, he has been up at 6.00 in the morning and gone out to train during the tour of England. He did all he could do get back on song.

The last cricketing calendar year has been trying for Clarke. A hamstring surgery two months before the World Cup had almost written off his chances of playing the tournament. But he did not give up; he went ahead with the surgery and then the rehabilitation. He followed medical instructions to the fullest and did more. He wanted to play on and there was nothing that could stop him from doing so. Within weeks, he had started to run. And then bat. He trained really hard to get back in rhythm and was back in his stride in time for the warm-up match against Afghanistan.

It is a story of what hard work, zeal and passion can do amidst adversity. Why is Clarke a true champion? Why does Sachin Tendulkar hail Clarke as the best captain he has seen? And, of course, every Australian cricket follower would know why they draw parallels with Mark Taylor. Clarke did not inherit a team of match-winners the way Steve Waugh or Ricky Ponting did.

His was an Australian team in transition and to make a menace with an inexperienced team is commendable. That’s what Clarke overhauled. He ticked the boxes: beat South Africa in South Africa braving a rib fracture, win the Ashes 5-0, beat India 4-0 at home and make Australia the No 1 team in the world.

At 34, Clarke still has a lot of good cricket left in him. Poor form coupled with the loss of Ashes has made the writing clear on the wall: had he not quit, the axe would have come sooner than later. Clarke knew that and took the honourable way out.

For the moment, he will refocus one last time and lead Australia to a consolation win at the iconic Oval. And, like in his farewell ODI appearance, by making an impactful score in the second innings. That would be a fitting farewell to a champion.

(A cricket geek to the tee, Ankit Banerjee smokes and snorts it all day long. The romance with the sport incepted since the 1996 World Cup semi-final. He is a winner of the 2011 edition of the All-India college cricket quiz.)