Michael John Clarke- the ex-captain of Australian cricket team is celebrating his 35th birthday on April 2. Let us together have a look at his past glories and contribution to Australian cricket team.
Clarkey made his ODI debut in January 2003 against England at Adelaide Oval. Clarke's highest ODI batting score of 130 was made at Bangalore in 2007. His best ODI bowling record of 5 for 35 was made against Sri Lanka in 2003–04. Pup has played 244 ODIs, made 7907 runs at an average of 44.42 with 8 centuries and 58 half-centuries. He has also led the Aussies in 73 matches, of which they won 49. He got the position of full-time one-day and test captain of Australia on 29 March 2011
Clarke's debut Test score of 151 was made against India in Bangalore, 2004–05. He scored a splendid 141 against New Zealand in 2004 on his debut at Gabba that made him the only Australian to score a century on both home and away debuts. His best Test bowling figures of 6 for 9 was made against India. His first Ashes century came in December 2006, when he hit 124 at the Adelaide Oval to help Australia to victory.
He won Australian Man of the Series in the 2009 Ashes Series. Clarke's highest test batting score of 329* was made on 2012 against India. It remained the fourth best Test match batting score of all time by an Australian. Clarke's score of 259* made at the Gabba on 9 November 2012 against South Africa is the highest Test score at the ground. He announced his retirement from all the three formats of cricket at the end of 2015 Ashes series after losing the 4th match of the series. In the final match, where Australia earned a consolation win, it marked the first time where Clarke had enforced the follow-on!
He has bagged 5 Player of the Series and 7 Man of the Match awards in his test cricket career. He has also managed to grab 3 Player of the Series awards and 13 Man of the Match awards in his ODI career. He was awarded the Allan Border Medal in 2005.
Though Clarke’s achievements in T20 format are quite low, the glories that he has earned in the other two formats are fair enough to surpass it. He has played enough roles to mold the team to its present form. It’s time to hats off the leader for all his contribution and wishes him a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
