Michael Clarke - all hype, no performance

[Scallywag]

Cant see the problem with Clarke myself.

After 4 tests against India his ave is 57
After 3 test against NZ his ave is 52
After 3 tests against Pak his ave is 20

Coming alond nicely if you ask me.

 

[Tom Halsey]

You develop in the Pura Cup, not on the test circuit. While guys like Hodge, Love, Maher, Hussey etc, consistently churn runs out summer after summer and their career first class averages are high 40s, 50s, their places are taken by a guy who barely averages 40 in first class cricket.

Domestic success does not equal International success. The selectors might have seen something in him that makes them think he'll be a success Internationally.

 

[Black Thunder]

I couldn't see Clarke getting dropped from the time but he does have to start performing again. He's having a bit of a down turn but i wouldn't get too worried just yet. He's such a promosing cricketer that it would be a bit silly to send him back to state level on the back of half a dozen performances.

But if he does struggle for the first couple of Ashes tests, and Australia as a team are struggling then there will be a lot of pressure on him.

 

[Josh]

That is exactly my point.

What I mean is they need time to develop IN the top level. Someone who's never played test cricket but maybe played 5 or 6 years of First Class still needs to DEVELOP as a test player.

 

[Mister Wright]

What I mean is they need time to develop IN the top level. Someone who's never played test cricket but maybe played 5 or 6 years of First Class still needs to DEVELOP as a test player.

That may be true if your team is struggling and you need someone to come in and breath life into the side, but that isn't what's needed in this situation. Love, Hussey, Hodge, Symonds all would have a good 3 or 4 years of test cricket in them, plenty of time for Clarke to cool his heels and make his way into the test side with loads of experience and it would be better for Australia IMO.

 

[Richard]

Cant see the problem with Clarke myself.

After 4 tests against India his ave is 57
After 3 test against NZ his ave is 52
After 3 tests against Pak his ave is 20

Coming alond nicely if you ask me.

After 5 Tests his ave was 67.62
In his next 6 Tests his average was 15.14.
Coming along very nicely if you ask me - a misleading start, but coming right after a while.

 

[Richard]

Domestic success does not equal International success.

No but domestic failure or nothing-specialness does almost always equal international failure.

The selectors might have seen something in him that makes them think he'll be a success Internationally.

They might - and they might, very well, be wrong, the same way selectors almost always are if they think they know better than the game itself.

 

[Richard]

Some Test Cricket is.

Authentic Test-cricket is.
Games involving Bangladesh, post-WC2003-Zimbabwe, pre-1970s New Zealand et al isn't, and hence it doesn't deserve to be called Test-cricket.

 

[Richard]

Its all about timing and politics.

Lehmann should have played 70 - 80 tests but was only given an extended run towards the end of his career.

Love is a very, very fine player but was treated poorly.

Maher is in competition with Langer - the previous captain's best mate.

Clarke is young, talented and seen as the next big thing. He is marketable and the team is winning so we can afford to give him a go.

Life's not always fair.

Which doesn't make it wrong to complain when it isn't.

 

[Richard]

No matter what Michael Clarke does; bat terribly, bowl wonderfully, miss a catch, whatever.. its the focus of the week. Just be patient.. hes just a kid, after all. He's only just started, for crying out loud.

Well it's not like that's a particularly rare occurrance.

 

[Richard]

He is going through a bad patch, but I am sure he will get out of it. I, for one, have always rated him high. I juz get the feeling that he is a natural. Watching him bat, and I have watched him LIVE BTW, I juz think he has got that special something about him as a batter. I always think that teams should persist with naturals... That was the precise reason I have been backing guys like Younis Khan, Dinesh Kaarthick, VVS Laxman, Clarke..... I am not saying they will be the next big things but they look naturally gifted and they are worth persisting with.

"Looking natural" can be one of the most misleading things in cricket.
Just because your strokes look good when they come off actually means little more often than it means much.
It's how many, not how - style is just a bonus.

 

[age_master]

After 5 Tests his ave was 67.62
In his next 6 Tests his average was 15.14.
Coming along very nicely if you ask me - a misleading start, but coming right after a while.

just because hes Aussie, give the guy a break everyone has little form slumps now and then. Jason Gillespie has had about an equal lack of form of late.

 

[Richard]

Michael Slater was talking about Michael Clarke's county performances on the telly today actually and said the pitches in England last summer weren't anything to write home about at all and that he did really well under the cirumstances.

Pitches at The Rose Bowl do tend to be bordering on the disgraceful.

 

[age_master]

"Looking natural" can be one of the most misleading things in cricket.
Just because your strokes look good when they come off actually means little more often than it means much.
It's how many, not how - style is just a bonus.

maybe you should watch him play sometime

 

[Richard]

langer, hayden, martyn - theyve all had the same thing happen to them. Its very likely that Clarke will bounce back very soon and I will be laughing at you when he does. Dont be so quick to assume things!

Langer, Hayden, Stephen Waugh, Ponting, Martyn and Lehmann's early careers were a bit more disjointed than Clarke's.
None of them, even Ponting AFAIK, undeservedly acquired the wonderkid tab in such a flurry.

 

[Richard]

maybe you should watch him play sometime

I have, plenty of times, including last summer.
And he was a lot of style and much less substance.

 

[age_master]

ponting was a 'wonder kid' from when he was back in the academy, marsh said he was the best hed ever seen...

 

[Richard]

just because hes Aussie, give the guy a break everyone has little form slumps now and then. Jason Gillespie has had about an equal lack of form of late.

Yes, he has, Gillespie has always had form slumps.
Just that his good patches in between them tend to be rather sensational.

 

[age_master]

I have, plenty of times, including last summer.
And he was a lot of style and much less substance.

how many? 2 or 3? does his ODI record lack substance too?

 

[Richard]

ponting was a 'wonder kid' from when he was back in the academy, marsh said he was the best hed ever seen...

Marsh said Chris Read was the best he'd ever seen - Marsh is hopelessly hyperbolic - the minute someone comes to an Academy of his and works hard he tends to call them the best he's ever seen.