Michael Clarke - Is the end very near?

[lockyno1]

Voges look like he will go before Clarkey

Both should retire, one is finished and one is a good solid State cricketer!

 

[The Charlatan]

Strikes me as someone who loves the limelight - so will move on when something better (Ch 9) is in place

Nobody that has been brought into the team seems better though, so bit of a worry for Australia

I don't disagree with the first line JJ. He'll self preserve though.

 

[Red Bear]

a massive cleanout is due soon
Rogers, Clarke, Voges, Nevill, Johnson are all 29 or older and only have 2-3 good years left in them

Nevill is in his second test and suddnely only has 2-3 years in him :lol: He's got the good to last a bit longer than that. Then there is Whiteman who is very young but very promising in WA, who'll hopefully be in his prime as Nev comes to an end.

There's actually a few batsmen performing in recent years which is nice, we aren't quite where we were a couple of years ago when the cupboard really was bare. Burns, Lynn, Handscombe, Stoinis, Silk, Haris, Bancroft, Head (maybe, very young), Maddinson (better last season but very inconsistent). With no ashes for a while it'll definitely be time to start blooding them in as Rogers, Clarke, Voges are not long for this side.

We've got good young fast bowlers also, not sure how long Johnson lasts but Pattinson is very good and then there is Cummins, Bird and others around the place.

 

[lockyno1]

Nevill is in his second test and suddnely only has 2-3 years in him :lol: He's got the good to last a bit longer than that. Then there is Whiteman who is very young but very promising in WA, who'll hopefully be in his prime as Nev comes to an end.

There's actually a few batsmen performing in recent years which is nice, we aren't quite where we were a couple of years ago when the cupboard really was bare. Burns, Lynn, Handscombe, Stoinis, Silk, Haris, Bancroft, Head (maybe, very young), Maddinson (better last season but very inconsistent). With no ashes for a while it'll definitely be time to start blooding them in as Rogers, Clarke, Voges are not long for this side.

We've got good young fast bowlers also, not sure how long Johnson lasts but Pattinson is very good and then there is Cummins, Bird and others around the place.

Can we also get rid of Starc. If we are so hellbent on a left armer Jason Behrendoff has a MUCH better 4 day record than pie thrower Starc. I am so over us picking ODI players just because they get a few wickets in that form of the game. Joel Paris is the one I feel could be the best left armer in the country though (ridiculously young though).

 

[madunit]

Nevill is in his second test and suddnely only has 2-3 years in him :lol: He's got the good to last a bit longer than that. Then there is Whiteman who is very young but very promising in WA, who'll hopefully be in his prime as Nev comes to an end.

There's actually a few batsmen performing in recent years which is nice, we aren't quite where we were a couple of years ago when the cupboard really was bare. Burns, Lynn, Handscombe, Stoinis, Silk, Haris, Bancroft, Head (maybe, very young), Maddinson (better last season but very inconsistent). With no ashes for a while it'll definitely be time to start blooding them in as Rogers, Clarke, Voges are not long for this side.

We've got good young fast bowlers also, not sure how long Johnson lasts but Pattinson is very good and then there is Cummins, Bird and others around the place.

He may be in his second test, but he's almost 30. And unless he becomes a tonkin batsmen "like Gilchrist" then he'll get dropped quick enough.

We all know how the selectors work. They'll happily take a shit keeper who can tonk over a good keeper who isn't a great batsmen.

How else do you explain Wade getting a baggy green.

Fact is, once players hit 30, they are on the back end of their careers. I don't make the rules, it's just fact. If players religiously retired at 45 years of age, then sure I could be laughed at, but that's not the case is it now?

Furthermore, I wasn't criticising his form or ability.

 

[Timbo]

I think Burns is pretty well odds on to replace Voges for the two tests in Bangladesh after the Ashes.

Maybe a roughy like Bancroft or Stoinis could come in too.

 

[lockyno1]

I think Burns is pretty well odds on to replace Voges for the two tests in Bangladesh after the Ashes.

Maybe a roughy like Bancroft or Stoinis could come in too.

Stoinis isn't ready yet, we can't be picking players off half a season and 1 innings against India A.

I would go the other way, Bancroft opening, Burns at 3, Smith back to a natural position of 4. S.Marsh at 5 (until someone is actually ready, i.e. Lynn, Handscomb, Head, etc). Mitch Marsh at 6. He will learn a lot from this series and be better for it.

 

[Eelectrica]

Looks like Clarke is retiring at the end of the 5th test:
http://www.cricket.com.au/news/mich...rts-australia-england-trent-bridge/2015-08-08

Hopefully he has one more good knock left. Even if it would be a game late for this tour.

 

[undertaker]

Looks like Clarke is retiring at the end of the 5th test:
http://www.cricket.com.au/news/mich...rts-australia-england-trent-bridge/2015-08-08

Hopefully he has one more good knock left. Even if it would be a game late for this tour.

I wonder if he will change his mind if he pulls off a century like Hayden did at The Oval in 2005 and Hussey in 2009?

 

[Eelectrica]

I wonder if he will change his mind if he pulls off a century like Hayden did at The Oval in 2005 and Hussey in 2009?

Who knows, I figured he'd get the Australian summer as a chance to go out a winner. Seems final though.

 

[African Monkey]

Oh God

Can you imagine him and Warne in the box together

Warner "Michael Clarke was the best captain for Australia since Mark Taylor, who was the best captain I played under"

Clarke " Cheers Warney, I learnt a lot from you"

:lol: Gold

As undertaker mentioned, I was thinking about Clarke repeating Hussey and Hayden from ashes series over the years.

 

[Iafeta]

Clarke was a great player. Because of the opposing bowling attacks, better bats, shortened boundaries and easier pitches, I'd suggest he's well below the likes of Allan Border, Greg Chappell and Stephen Waugh in the outstanding batting stakes.

 

[mozza91]

Both Hayden and Hussey managed to come back from their struggles in the Ashes. Clarke is certainly capable of doing it, hopefully he can do it.

 

[69-05-41]

They should have punted Clarke years ago and kept Symonds and Katich. Has anyone told Twatson that he has effectively retired too?

 

[AusKnightRKO]

Both Hayden and Hussey managed to come back from their struggles in the Ashes. Clarke is certainly capable of doing it, hopefully he can do it.

He's retired man, he is done.

 

[AusKnightRKO]

Anyone think Phil passing away has ruined his appetite for the game, he has never looked the same since, even his good digs against India, he didn't look the same player.

 

[TheParraboy]

They should have punted Clarke years ago and kept Symonds and Katich. Has anyone told Twatson that he has effectively retired too?

With Rogers, Haddin, Clarke all gone, the scary thing is thy might recall sunshine for "leadership and experience" to help out Smith

We could have a very inexperienced side for our home summer

 

[lockyno1]

About time, if there is one good thing about this disaster of an Ashes it is getting rid of players that are past it.

 

[undertaker]

Clarke was a great player. Because of the opposing bowling attacks, better bats, shortened boundaries and easier pitches, I'd suggest he's well below the likes of Allan Border, Greg Chappell and Stephen Waugh in the outstanding batting stakes.

:lol:

Clarke, although with an average over 50 until this Ashes series, has got absolutely nothing on Border, Chappell or Waugh. I would also add Ponting to that list as well, who debuted in 1995 and produced results against quality fast and spin bowling before flat-tracks engulfed the world.

Border/Chappell/Waugh averaged more than 50 on more difficult pitches against far better quality bowlers. Border and Chappell played against the best West Indian fast bowlers of all time on non flat-tracks without the helmets that are around today, as well as other quality bowlers such as Hadlee, Willis, Botham, Khan and Dev at their peaks. Border - although not as naturally gifted as Chappell (who, along with Ponting, is considered one of the two best Australian batsmen in the post-Bradman era, although Chappell just gets the nod over Ponting due to the reasons you mentioned above) - was very versatile and scored runs in all batting positions from 3 down to 8, and would easily average at least another 5-10 more runs if he was playing in today's game. Like Waugh, Border had the mental toughness, grit and determination that Clarke and other feeble-minded players like Warner and Watson lack. In Border's final test, Australia were in trouble at 4-down on the final day after clearing off an 150 run 1st innings deficit on a seaming Durban pitch against Donald/De Villiers/Matthews (who all finished with bowling averages in the 20s, and skittled Australia at the SCG only a couple of months earlier defending 117), and he and Mark Waugh were able to bat out the last two sessions to secure a draw and 1-all drawn series in a situation where the current Australian batting lineup would've crumbled under pressure. As good as Clarke has been during the past decade with memorable innings such as the 329* against India, I have never seen Clarke nor could imagine him play a match-saving innings such as that, or the 120* Steve Waugh hit in the must-win game vs South Africa at the 1999 World Cup.

Border is like the Ricky Stuart of cricket: regardless of whether or not you like him as a person, as a player though, he doesn't get anywhere near the credit he deserves in the media, largely due to him not being one of 'the boys' in the Ch9 club.

 

[JJ]

Clarke is not in the same league as any of Ponting, Chappell, S Waugh or Border. Border had ordinary teams around him and truly led from the front - he didn't just talk about leading from the front.

As I have said elsewhere, Jayawardene is the mirror image of Clarke, and many Australians do not rate him.

Clarke imo well short of the top tier of Australian batsmen ever, and regardless of what Shane Warne keeps saying isn't in discussions of who the best bat in the world is - sometimes in Australian summers he might be, then he tours...

As Dennis Lillee ( I think) said, if you want someone to bat for your life, you take Border...