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Is Michael Clarke the worst leaver in the game?

Mister Wright

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
We've seen him get out some shocking ways when leaving the ball. There was that ODI against Zimbabwe, and the one against New Zealand where he advanced down the pitch and left the ball to be bowled by Vettori. Then there was last night and he's been out LBW a few times leaving the ball aswell.

So the question is....Is Michael Clarke the worst leaver in the game?

Can't think of another player off the top of my head who gets out so many times leaving the ball.
 

fredfertang

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
We've seen him get out some shocking ways when leaving the ball. There was that ODI against Zimbabwe, and the one against New Zealand where he advanced down the pitch and left the ball to be bowled by Vettori. Then there was last night and he's been out LBW a few times leaving the ball aswell.

So the question is....Is Michael Clarke the worst leaver in the game?

Can't think of another player off the top of my head who gets out so many times leaving the ball.
Gatt had a special talent for that
 

chaminda_00

Hall of Fame Member
Lance Gibbs. He just lefted everything to ensure he never got hit.

Prassana was as bad, but technically he wasn't leaving the ball. Just missed it a fair bit.
 

Jigga988

State 12th Man
Ramdin has had a couple shocking ones of late... arn't you forgetting the infamous ashes dismissal - Simon Jones... pretty sure that was Clarke who he bowled though I could be wrong.
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
Can't think of another player off the top of my head who gets out so many times leaving the ball.
For a brief period getting bowled leaving the ball was known as being 'Herschelle'd"

Maybe a local thing though, but he was a bad leaver as well.
 

Mr Mxyzptlk

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Obviously yes. That is why he averages nearly 50 in test cricket.
Hey, Kyle isn't saying he's not a quality batsman. He's just saying that the kid is comparatively poor at leaving the ball. There seems a decent case for it, but it's not a technical problem or anything particularly pertaining to leaving alone. It's a judgment issue it seems, which could be tied in with a lack of concentration.
 

Simon

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The leave yesterday wasnt a luck of judgement or anything, he has every right to leave it. Was just a bit sloppy leaving his bat there and the ball could have gone anywhere unluckily it went onto the stumps.
 

Zinzan

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No Chris Martin is; the way he plays inside & outside the line of deliveries on middle stump :p
 

Jigga988

State 12th Man
No Chris Martin is; the way he plays inside & outside the line of deliveries on middle stump :p
Incidentally, Chris Martin is also the worst at a lot of other things related to batting, its not so much as playing inside and outside the line of the ball as it is just plain old being crapy. Clarke at least is a good player who seems to leave balls alone at strange times don't really think it's a judgement issue just think it's lack of concentration.
 

chaminda_00

Hall of Fame Member
For Clake it is really a concentration thing. I think he only ever scored one double hundred in FC and that was on a road for NSW. He doesn't have many ODI hundreds to his name. Amazing what his record could be if he fixed that minor error in his game.
 

howardj

International Coach
Haydos, early doors in his career, was a shocking leaver!

I think, for the record, Pup's most embarrassing leave was against Simon Jones, Ashes 2005.

Granted though, that was a peach of a ball.
 

Precambrian

Banned
Clarke is certainly one among the worst leavers.

I think Wasim Jaffer is a worthy contender. Some of his leaves are just bamboozling stuff. Many times he got bowled to such leaves.
 

R_D

International Debutant
Haydos, early doors in his career, was a shocking leaver!

I think, for the record, Pup's most embarrassing leave was against Simon Jones, Ashes 2005.

Granted though, that was a peach of a ball.
was going to mention that one... come to think of it.. he has misjudged fair few times now
 

Top_Cat

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Haydos, early doors in his career, was a shocking leaver!

I think, for the record, Pup's most embarrassing leave was against Simon Jones, Ashes 2005.

Granted though, that was a peach of a ball.
Surely this one was far worse?

YouTube - Unbelievable Michael Clarke dismissal

He had every right to leave the ball from Jones. That was an amazing ball. The lead-up to it made it even tougher to play, poor Clarke never had a chance.
 

pup11

International Coach
Haydos, early doors in his career, was a shocking leaver!

I think, for the record, Pup's most embarrassing leave was against Simon Jones, Ashes 2005.

Granted though, that was a peach of a ball.
That was not that embarssing tbh, the ball was reversing a mile (because of minty conditons:ph34r:) and Clarke too was restricted in his foot-movement due his back problem..


Though Clarke clearly has a problem, he has gone down to weird dismissals way too often for it to be considered a coincidence.

More than a judgemental era, i think its a concentration problem with him, he once said that some times he pre-meditates into playing too many different shots by the time by ball leaves the bowler' hand and reaches him, and leads him into doing something silly.

That's why he has nowadays started chanting that "watch the ball, watch the ball" mantra, every time a bowler runs into bowl.
 
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