Michael Clarke

Michael John Clarke (born 2 April 1981) is an Australian former cricketer.

Clarke made his first-class debut for New South Wales as a seventeen-year-old in a game against the touring Indian side at the Sydney Cricket Ground in December 1999.

He was an AIS Australian Cricket Academy scholarship holder in 1999–2000.

In 2002, Clarke played for Ramsbottom Cricket Club in English club cricket.

He became the first player to hit a double century in the history of the Lancashire League.

Clarke made his One Day International debut in January 2003 against England at Adelaide Oval.

Clarke made his Test debut at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore in October 2004, in the first Test match of Australia's 2004 tour of India.

In his first innings, Clarke batted with good footwork against India's bowlers.

He was not confident that he could read India's spin bowler Anil Kumble's deliveries, so he moved to the pitch of the ball to eliminate the spin.

He scored 151 runs and was named the player of the match in Australia's win.

He continued to play well for the rest of the tour.

Despite not being considered a strong bowler, he bowled in fourth Test match at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai and took six wickets for nine runs.

This remained the best bowling performance of his Test career until he retired.

The Australian team returned home in November 2004 and Clarke played his first home Test match against New Zealand at The Gabba in Brisbane.

He scored another century, finishing with 141 runs, and was again named player of the match.

After his early success in the team, Clarke began to struggle and didn't score another century in the following six Test series he played.

His struggles began in the 2005 Ashes series in England.

He played a strong innings in the 1st Test match at Lord's in July 2005, reaching 91 quickly.

England responded with defensive bowling tactics to slow him down, and Clarke tried to improvise with aggressive shots and was dismissed.

Clarke's form dropped after this innings, and he struggled to score runs for the rest of the year.

He stayed in the team until November 2005, during Australia's series against the West Indies.

In the first Test match at Bellerive Oval in Hobart, Clarke was dismissed for 5 runs while playing a loose stroke in the first innings, and he did not bat in the second innings.

He was dropped from the team following this match.

After being dropped from the national team at the end of 2005, Clarke focused on changing his batting technique to tighten his defence and play with a straighter bat.

He performed well in Australian domestic cricket and returned to the national team in 2006.

His initial return came in Australia's first ever tour of Bangladesh in April 2006, but after this tour he was dropped again.

He next returned to the team for the 2006–07 Ashes series when Shane Watson was injured and unable to play.

He scored centuries in the second and third matches at Adelaide Oval and the WACA, he scored back-to-back centuries to cement his place in the team.

He also served as captain of the Twenty20 International (T20I) side between 2007 and 2010.

With his time representing Australia, Clarke won multiple ICC titles with the team: the 2007 Cricket World Cup, the 2015 Cricket World Cup which he was the winning captain, and the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy.

Nicknamed "Pup", Clarke was a right-handed middle-order batsman, an occasional left-arm orthodox spin bowler and also a slip catcher.

He represented New South Wales at a domestic level.

Clarke then helped Australia retain the 2007 Cricket World Cup in the West Indies where they did not lose a game.

He was captain of the Australian cricket team in both Test and One Day International (ODI) between 2011 and 2015, leading Australia to victory in the 2015 Cricket World Cup.

Clarke retired from all forms of cricket after the final Test of the 2015 Ashes series.

Clarke was born and raised in Liverpool, New South Wales.

He attended Marsden Road Public School and cultivated his batting skills at his father's indoor cricket centre in Liverpool after school.

His junior club was the Western Suburbs District Cricket Club.

When Clarke was 17, scans revealed that he had three degenerative discs in his lower back, a condition that would restrict his back movement through his career.

Clarke underwent core strengthening exercises to ease this condition.