by Gideon Haigh
c Swann
b Tremlett
10
52
38
2
0
26.31
MJ Clarke
c †Prior
b Anderson
20
89
54
2
0
37.03
MEK Hussey
c †Prior
b Anderson
8
44
41
1
0
19.51
SPD Smith
c †Prior
b Anderson
6
18
15
0
0
40.00
†BJ Haddin
c Strauss
b Bresnan
5
23
16
1
0
31.25
MG Johnson
c †Prior
b Anderson
0
8
4
0
0
0.00
RJ Harris
not out
10
39
23
2
0
43.47
PM Siddle
c †Prior
b Tremlett
11
25
15
1
0
73.33
BW Hilfenhaus
c †Prior
b Tremlett
0
10
8
0
0
0.00
EXTRAS
(lb 2, nb 5)
7
TOTAL
(all out; 42.5 overs; 195 mins)
98
(2.28 runs per over)
FoW
1-15
(Watson, 3.2 ov),
2-37
(Hughes, 13.1 ov),
3-37
(Ponting, 14.2 ov),
4-58
(Hussey, 25.2 ov),
5-66
(Smith, 29.3 ov),
6-77
(Clarke, 33.4 ov),
7-77
(Haddin, 34.5 ov),
8-77
(Johnson, 35.2 ov),
9-92
(Siddle, 40.3 ov),
10-98
(Hilfenhaus, 42.5 ov)
BOWLING
O
M
R
W
ECON
JM Anderson
16
4
44
4
2.75
CT Tremlett
11.5
5
26
4
2.19
(1nb)
TT Bresnan
13
6
25
2
1.92
GP Swann
2
1
1
0
0.50
ENGLAND 1st innings
R
M
B
4
6
SR
*AJ Strauss
c Hussey
b Siddle
69
232
167
5
0
41.31
AN Cook
c Watson
b Siddle
82
212
152
11
0
53.94
IJL Trott
not out
168
486
345
13
0
48.69
KP Pietersen
lbw
b Siddle
51
127
89
7
0
57.30
PD Collingwood
c Siddle
b Johnson
8
27
15
1
0
53.33
IR Bell
c Siddle
b Johnson
1
19
13
0
0
7.69
†MJ Prior
c Ponting
b Siddle
85
201
119
11
0
71.42
TT Bresnan
c †Haddin
b Siddle
4
22
17
0
0
23.52
GP Swann
c †Haddin
b Hilfenhaus
22
51
28
3
0
78.57
CT Tremlett
b Hilfenhaus
4
8
7
0
0
57.14
JM Anderson
b Siddle
1
5
6
0
0
16.66
EXTRAS
(b 10, lb 2, w 3, nb 3)
18
TOTAL
(all out; 159.1 overs; 700 mins)
513
(3.22 runs per over)
FoW
1-159
(Cook, 51.1 ov),
2-170
(Strauss, 55.3 ov),
3-262
(Pietersen, 86.3 ov),
4-281
(Collingwood, 91.3 ov),
5-286
(Bell, 95.3 ov),
6-459
(Prior, 141.1 ov),
7-465
(Bresnan, 145.4 ov),
8-508
(Swann, 156.3 ov),
9-512
(Tremlett, 158.1 ov),
10-513
(Anderson, 159.1 ov)
BOWLING
O
M
R
W
ECON
BW Hilfenhaus
37
13
83
2
2.24
(1w)
RJ Harris
28.4
9
91
0
3.17
MG Johnson
29
2
134
2
4.62
(2nb, 2w)
PM Siddle
33.1
10
75
6
2.26
(1nb)
SR Watson
10
1
34
0
3.40
SPD Smith
18
3
71
0
3.94
MJ Clarke
3.2
0
13
0
3.90
AUSTRALIA 2nd innings
R
M
B
4
6
SR
SR Watson
lbw
b Bresnan
54
136
102
6
0
52.94
PJ Hughes
run out (Trott/†Prior)
23
49
30
2
0
76.66
*RT Ponting
b Bresnan
20
101
73
2
0
27.39
MJ Clarke
c Strauss
b Swann
13
81
66
0
0
19.69
MEK Hussey
c Bell
b Bresnan
0
9
7
0
0
0.00
SPD Smith
b Anderson
38
91
67
6
0
56.71
† BJ Haddin
not out
55
135
93
4
1
59.13
MG Johnson
b Tremlett
6
23
22
0
0
27.27
PM Siddle
c Pietersen
b Swann
40
70
50
4
1
80.00
BW Hilfenhaus
c †Prior
b Bresnan
0
5
4
0
0
0.00
RJ Harris
absent hurt
-
EXTRAS
(b 1, lb 6, w 2)
9
TOTAL
(all out; 85.4 overs; 354 mins)
258
(3.01 runs per over)
FoW
1-53
(Hughes, 11.3 ov),
2-99
(Watson, 31.6 ov),
3-102
(Ponting, 35.4 ov),
4-104
(Hussey, 37.5 ov),
5-134
(Clarke, 52.5 ov),
6-158
(Smith, 61.5 ov),
7-172
(Johnson, 67.5 ov),
8-258
(Siddle, 84.2 ov),
9-258
(Hilfenhaus, 85.4 ov)
BOWLING
O
M
R
W
ECON
JM Anderson
20
1
71
1
3.55
(1w)
CT Tremlett
17
3
71
1
4.17
GP Swann
27
11
59
2
2.18
TT Bresnan
21.4
8
50
4
2.30
(1w)
Part VI
Fifth Test
Sydney Cricket Ground
3–7 January 2011
England won by an innings and 83 runs
31 DECEMBER 2010
MICHAEL CLARKE
In with the New
The email distributed in early afternoon by Cricket Australia slightly boggled the mind. There would be a press conference at the Sydney Cricket Ground at 5.30 p.m. Present would be chief executive James Sutherland 'and two Australian cricketers'. Australia's team for the Fifth Test had not yet been announced: could it be that they were scrounging to gather an XI?
As it turned out, TBA and A.N. Other were Michael Clarke and Usman Khawaja, replacements for Ricky Ponting as captain and as batsman. And funnily enough, although Clarke has played sixty-eight Tests and Khawaja none, more questions surrounded the former than the latter.
Clarke is twenty-nine. He has made 4,697 Test runs at 46.97, with fourteen hundreds. Although he still wears the nickname he was given as a prodigy, Pup, he has been captain-in-waiting to Ponting for two years. But he is Australian cricket's Dr Fell, whom the fans do not like, why they cannot tell.
It may be his self-conscious metrosexual airs and graces. It may be his habit of appearing on billboards advertising this, that and himself. It may be the tattoos, of which Clarke has ten, including one on his right shoulder that celebrates his bikini-model ex Lara Bingle. But this I know, to sum it up: they do not like him, that man Pup. The same day of his appointment as Australia's forty-third captain, a tabloid in Clarke's Sydney home town had reported the results of a poll giving him a 15 per cent approval rating.
Of course, this is cricket, not Australia's Got Talent. And Cricket Australia have really invested too much in Clarke for them to back out now. Given that Ponting is still deemed the man in possession, and Clarke is depicting himself as a locum, more unrest would be sown by the latter's non-appointment.
Clarke has the confidence, having looked born to the job since his debut six years ago. Clarke has the experience, having led Australia in thirty-six short-form internationals. And whatever the ink on his arms and torso, he has kept his nose clean: since their very public bust-up in March, he has treated La Bingle as just another bit of body art.
What Clarke does not have is the necessary form, with just 322 runs at 21.46 in his last eight Tests since accepting a promotion to number four, or the fitness, suffering as he does from a long-term disc problem. His decision to persevere in all three formats of the game has made a rod for a back that does not need it. Bowlers have been hemming him in on the back foot: he does not pull with any fluidity, and has as a result been playing at deliveries wider and wider in search of scoring opportunities. Pace and bounce have worried him. He batted at Adelaide Oval wearing a chest guard, which seemed as incongruous on him as flares and a feather boa.
While Clarke led Australia to the final of the World Twenty20 earlier this year, his strike rate in the format is a slowcoach 103 per hundred balls. He shows, moreover, no deep love of the format, eschewing the Indian Premier League, perhaps because of the likelihood that his valuation there would not match his self-estimation.
Then there is the perennial conjecture about Clarke's status in his own dressing room. Will the team pull for him as they did for Punter? Given the Australians' recent record, this hardly seems relevant. If all that pulling for Punter has failed to prevent the team sustaining two innings defeats, then it's arguably time for push to come to shove. Those who purport to have the skinny on the team dynamic usually turn out to be working on second-hand or external impressions. What is said of Clarke is that he is a nervous waiter, and that he has a propensity for showering because of a tendency to perspire; apparently he also likes to clean his teeth. Sounds like a dental role model in the making at least.
Clarke is known to have had an altercation with Simon Katich after a Test at the SCG two years ago, Clarke's eagerness to get away after the game to meet Bingle irking the traditionalist Katich. But people keeping harking back to that cherchez la femme story because there has been so little to go on since. In fact, Clarke probably suits the team chosen for Sydney as well as he has for a while, containing as it does Phil Hughes, with whom Clarke shares a coach in Neil d'Costa, and Steve Smith, with whom Clarke shares regular mutually admiring tweets. The elevation of New South Wales's captain Haddin as Clarke's as well as his team's backstop will be a reassurance too. They have shared thirteen Test partnerships at an average of 82.5.
While it has long been expected that Clarke would captain Australia, what was not expected was he would take over under these circumstances: one anticipated deep deliberation, orderly succession and elaborate ceremony, as was the case with Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh and Ponting, rather than a hurried email not even stating his name. He has in a sense been given two messages: both that the job is his, and also that it is his to lose.
2 JANUARY 2011
FIFTH TEST
The Living Dead
New Year's Resolutions? For 2011, Australian cricket has a few. They want to retain the World Cup. They hanker to beat India here, which will be tough, and to see off Sri Lanka there, which won't be much easier. The most important resolution is one with which they began 2010 and which they are now in no position to renew: regain the Ashes. But they can make a start on it.
A little and a lo
t ride on the Sydney Test. The result cannot affect custody of the urn, as the Barmy Army will ensure nobody forgets over the next five days. Yet Michael Clarke's appointment as Ricky Ponting's proxy has added spice to the contest. The 29-year-old batsman comes into the job as to an ancient but decaying ancestral seat, occupying a great mansion in which all the family silver has been melted down – in a state, moreover, of what a youthful heir would describe as 'temporary embarassment' while trying to cadge a fiver from the footman. Two half-centuries in his last fifteen Test innings is a performance record as embarrassing to recount as it has been to watch.
At least things can hardly get worse. If Australia survive the Test match without anyone slipping over in the shower or scalding themselves at the tea urn, they will feel a sense of quiet vindication. Nor can Clarke complain about his charges, six of whom will be fellow New South Welshmen playing on their home ground.
Australia will nominally be weaker than in Melbourne, even if Ponting has not been his inspirational self at number three this summer. Ryan Harris, with the thrust of a muscle car but the chassis of a tenth-hand VW combi, is a grave loss. Although Bollinger took three wickets in each innings of the recent Sheffield Shield match, they were from Queensland's dysfunctional order, and the memory of his performance at Adelaide Oval, breathless for all the wrong reasons, remains fresh.
The elevation of Usman Khawaja, however, is a progressive step, and not simply because he is the first Australian Muslim cricketer and a multicultural posterchild in the making. He is one of those batsmen whose quality stands out even in the nets – strong off the back foot, prolific through point, composed against the short stuff – and should arguably have been phased in during Australia's benighted northern campaign in July and August.
What's more, Khawaja has earned his place by weight of runs: 2,068 of them at 51.7 with six hundreds from 27 first-class games. It is difficult to examine the statistics of some of the others mooted for national selection, like Callum Ferguson (first-class average of 35 with four hundreds from 47 games) and Shaun Marsh (first-class average of 36.3 and five hundreds from 56 games), without beginning to wonder if national honours haven't become rather cheap in this day and age.