Battle of the Michael Clarke Epics

[Dan]

Seriously, this bloke churns out tons in the most ridiculous of circumstances. Whether it be making 161 vs. South Africa with a broken ****in' shoulder, his ton today made without the use of his back and in the shadow of Phillip Hughes' tragic passing, or compiling 168 at the Basin with the entire world hating him because Lara Bingle, it seems like whenever Clarke's under personal strain, or the team needs a leader, he goes big.

He' has an amazing talent to be able to do that, alongside ridiculous levels of determination. I can't help but think he'll go down as one of the best (if not the best) players of 'great' innings in history.

So, CW, I ask you this in lieu of other things to argue with each other about -- which Michael Clarke ton is his best?

 

[OverratedSanity]

Yeah, plays some awesome knocks. For me it has to be the Capetown 151... didnt have the off-field circumstances of some of his other knocks, but he made the pitch look like day 1 Adelaide when no one else had a clue how to play on it.

Battle of the VVS specials would beat this thread tbh.

 

[Coronis]

Did someone say Lara Bingle? As if he broke up with her, what a tosser.

 

[the big bambino]

Ha he gave her the heave ho alright.Thats when I started to like him. Getting rid of her showed he meant business by taking out the trash.

 

[cnerd123]

151 at Cape Town for me too. Crazy innings considering what followed.

 

[dfrinku]

His best 2 are the SA knocks on account of them not being against India at home.

 

[Teja.]

His 151 is the one innings which I'd consider a true epic tbh (with perhaps the 300 coming close), which for the sake of arbitrary definition is one which is a worthy contender for the top 100 or so knocks of all-time. He's played plenty of good innings though and quite a few innings which were great shows of character which is different from being a great innings match conditions/bowling/pitch POV, IMO.

I can't help but think he'll go down as one of the best (if not the best) players of 'great' innings in history.

I also definitely don't buy that he'll end up as the greatest player of great innings ever. That's preposterous. To talk of a recent player, VVS has two sub-hundred knocks in the year 2010 alone which are better than pretty much every non-151 Clarke knock (The miracle 83 and 96 in Cape Town where the second highest score in the whole game being 39 with VVS scoring 38 himself) and that's not even talking about 281 and 167. Also think both Waughs, among Australians played more great knocks even in the last twenty years considering worse pitches and against better bowling. KP has a case too and that's even before we come on to the true maestros of great innings like Lara, Hobbs, Bradman etc. He wouldn't stand a chance make a top twenty across history.

As for the answer, 151.

 

[Spark]

I think the quotes indicate he meant great as in memorable rather than meritorious.

Having said, that I think you're being way too harsh in general. Remember that period where Clarke would score 250 from 3/50 over and over?

 

[Gnske]

The 151 for me. Just for the way he batted in comparison with his teammates and considering how he later batted during the 161, scratching and flailing around trying to survive as opposed to dominating.

 

[Spark]

It does call into question what we value from an innings and from sport in general though. Everyone here has cited technical cricketing reasons for the Cape Town 151, which I'd cite as well, but I can guarantee that in the long-term memory of the game it'll be the 161* and the 128 which are better remembered for "non-technical" reasons, and you can't exactly say they're wrong.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Pretty harsh from Teja on the whole there. Saying Clarke wouldn't make a top 20 of players of great knocks sounds wrong.

One innings of his which gets less attention is this one :
1st Test: Australia v New Zealand at Brisbane, Nov 20-23, 2008 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo

Was a really, really tough greentop. I remember watching and was so impressed by how he ground out the runs, and became a fan of his after that day even though it was not long after the 2008 series when he was hated by pretty much everyone here... he edged one every 4 deliveries, that's how hard it was on day 1, but he stuck it out brilliantly. As tough as anything the Waughs ever played on tbh. And please can we stop with the 90s comparisons saying it was an era with far more difficult pitches and far better bowlers? Admittedly, 2000-2007 or so was pretty batsman friendly, but we've moved on from that and since then, there've been plenty of tough pitches and quality bowling attacks and batting generally hasn't been a cakewalk at all.

10 years from now, someone on CW will look back on some of Clarke's innings, like the Adelaide pwnage of Steyn and Morkel with reverence.

 

[OverratedSanity]

It does call into question what we value from an innings and from sport in general though. Everyone here has cited technical cricketing reasons for the Cape Town 151, which I'd cite as well, but I can guarantee that in the long-term memory of the game it'll be the 161* and the 128 which are better remembered for "non-technical" reasons, and you can't exactly say they're wrong.

Will be a damn shame if the 151 isn't as well remembered. Doubt it, tbh... that game already has a kind of legendary quality to it.

 

[Valer]

It does call into question what we value from an innings and from sport in general though. Everyone here has cited technical cricketing reasons for the Cape Town 151, which I'd cite as well, but I can guarantee that in the long-term memory of the game it'll be the 161* and the 128 which are better remembered for "non-technical" reasons, and you can't exactly say they're wrong.

It doesn't help that Australia lacked penetration in the 4th innings and it was in a not particularly close losing cause.

Edit:

I saw the game I'm not claiming the conditions were the same.

(151 for me too)

 

[Spark]

Will be a damn shame if the 151 isn't as well remembered. Doubt it, tbh... that game already has a kind of legendary quality to it.

47ao will always ensure that innings is always weirdly overshadowed though. It'll probably be placed higher by cricket aficionados but in the wider, broader cricketing culture the 161* is already higher and it's not hard to see this one joining it.

And yeah the 230 against Steyn + Morkel was ridiculous. Flat track, depleted attack, Imran Tahir but that was a staggering exhibition of pure strokeplay. He seems to save his best for them, tbh.

 

[OverratedSanity]

47ao will always ensure that innings is always weirdly overshadowed though. It'll probably be placed higher by cricket aficionados but in the wider, broader cricketing culture the 161* is already higher and it's not hard to see this one joining it.

Yeah I guess so. Telling that it wasn't mentioned in the OP either. Dan WAC.

 

[Spark]

Admittedly, 2000-2007 or so was pretty batsman friendly, but we've moved on from that and since then, there've been plenty of tough pitches and quality bowling attacks and batting generally hasn't been a cakewalk at all.

Very much agree with this, ftr, especially given that Clarke's peak has coincided with the emergence of a number of genuinely world class fast bowlers again

 

[Spark]

Incidentally, Clarke now has more hundreds than fifties (OS complaints notwithstanding). Article says that Bradman and Hayden are the only other Aus bats who've scored a noteworthy amount of runs to do the same, who else is there?

 

[GIMH]

Not in the same company as the innings mentioned above but Lord's 09 gave me the ****s. I couldn't sleep on the night of day four as I was worried he might actually see the Aussies through to the impossible

 

[the big bambino]

Clarke's scores against SA changed my mind about him and his weakness against quality pace. His 151 was brilliant but the 161 when he was being tortured by Morkel as well as his bad back is the top effort for mine. That his double tons against the same opponents are 3 and 4 show what a great player he is. I'd then rate his form against England's v good attacks including Flintoff, Broad, Anderson, Finn and Swann. Once again his magnificent efforts against India, which would be a worthy pinnacle of anyone else's career, queue up behind those innings.

 

[_Ed_]

One innings of his which gets less attention is this one :
1st Test: Australia v New Zealand at Brisbane, Nov 20-23, 2008 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo

Was a really, really tough greentop. I remember watching and was so impressed by how he ground out the runs, and became a fan of his after that day even though it was not long after the 2008 series when he was hated by pretty much everyone here... he edged one every 4 deliveries, that's how hard it was on day 1, but he stuck it out brilliantly.

Definitely agree with this. It was a stunning (and, from a NZ fan's perspective, infuriating) innings. Deserved a hundred.