Words Anthony Sharwood Photograph Nick Cubbin

“It’s about getting your mates around, having a barbie and just enjoying the greatest game in Australia.”

Michael Clarke

Maybe it’s the ad where he catches the tennis ball in his undies. Maybe it’s the hairdo and the diamond ear stud. Maybe it’s the fast car and the multi-million dollar pad overlooking Bondi Beach. Or maybe it’s the bloody fiancée. Whatever the reason, the average cricket fan just doesn’t seem to relate to Michael Clarke. He comes across as more of a celebrity than a sportsman. Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph even suggested recently that he’s seen as a bit of a “tosser”.
But when Alpha spends the morning with Clarke in an average Sydney backyard for our Australia Day-themed shoot, we discover a bloke so far removed from his public image it feels like we’re living in Bizarro World, the reverse universe from Superman comics.
Clarke is wiry in the flesh, and shorter than you might imagine. There doesn’t look to be an ounce of fat on his body, and his spare time seems to be every bit as lean as his frame. He’s got training after our shoot, then physio, then a range of other commitments that will occupy his entire day. He arrives with his manager and sponsorship manager. Every minute seems precious, so much so that we conduct our interview while he stretches on the floor to loosen up his troublesome back. Despite the time squeeze, which seems to be all part of a typical Michael Clarke day, he is relaxed, gives thoughtful responses and does his best to maintain eye contact, even as he splays his lithe body on the ground.
Think of a major Australian cricketer who embodies what we consider quintessential Aussie values and you think of Allan Border or Steve Waugh. But if you want patriotism with a capital “P” wrapped in red, white and blue with a dab of green and gold zinc, Clarke is your man. When Alpha quizzes the 28-year-old about the uniquely Australian qualities worth celebrating, he is as passionate as any sportsman we’ve met. Make no mistake: this “Pup” is all blue heeler.
“Oh, I reckon there are heaps of Australian qualities worth celebrating,” he says in a “where do I start” kind of tone. “I’m very proud to have been born in this country. Australian people believe in hard work and are very open-minded towards other nationalities. We don’t judge, we’re not racist, and the freedom of this land is very special – just the freedom to walk down the main street of wherever you are in this country and know that very rarely is there going to be too much trouble. I’m lucky I get to go and visit other countries and I can guarantee you don’t have that sort of freedom in a lot of countries I visit.
“To this day, when I’m in the aeroplane flying into Australia, it’s the greatest feeling in the world to touch down at Sydney airport, especially with me being a Sydney boy.”

CLARKE IS A WESTERN SYDNEY BOY, OR SOUTH-WESTERN TO BE PRECISE, born and raised in Liverpool. Like so many of us, he played cricket in the backyard most days after school. The shape of the yard forced him to play the straight bat shots that are today his trademark, while the perils of the adjoining yard helped instil that vital batsman’s lesson of keeping the ball along the ground.
“Over the back fence there was a huge german shepherd,” he recalls. “We were never game to go and get the ball, so if you hit it over the fence you were automatically out. There was no chance of me or my mates having the courage to go and get the tennis ball. If we had a spare tennis ball, it was play on. Otherwise it was game over for the day.”
Clarke remains a huge fan of backyard cricket, beach cricket and any informal version of the game he calls his profession. You might imagine him sitting on that luxurious Bondi balcony with a decaffeinated latte in one hand and a glass of Cristal in the other. Truth is, he’s more likely guzzling a sports drink while watching the cricket on the beach.
“A lot of the time, especially now living at Bondi, I look down at the beach and there are people playing cricket, 40-year-old men, their wives and a couple of sons and daughters fielding in the water,” he says. “To this day, I think it’s brilliant. Whether it’s beach cricket or backyard cricket, to me it’s all the same. It’s about getting your mates around, having a barbie and just enjoying the greatest game in Australia and a game that I’m certainly very proud to be playing for my country.”
Clarke’s game wasn’t developed solely in the backyard. His dad owned an indoor cricket centre, where he played several times a week. “I was blessed,” he says. “I had a proper pitch, proper stumps and nets so I didn’t have to chase the ball anywhere.”
At the age of 18 years and 244 days, Clarke debuted for NSW – 111 days younger than batting prodigy Phillip Hughes would be when he debuted in 2007. (Incidentally, Clarke and Hughes still share a batting coach in Neil D’Costa, who now runs an academy in India.)
Clarke came into the NSW side at a time when senior batsmen like Michael Slater and the Waugh brothers were on Test duty. His introduction to first-class cricket was harsh. Though he made a handful of runs in his first two games, NSW twice crumbled in unsuccessful run chases. He finished his initial first-class season with four 50s in seven matches, and an average of 28.78. The following season he notched his maiden first-class ton, but his overall average of 25.57 was again disappointing. He averaged an improved 39 in his third season, but his fourth season, 2001-02, was the breakthrough, as he produced four centuries at an average of 47.
The national selectors began to take notice, even in what was a highly competitive batting era, with the likes of Matthew Elliott, Brad Hodge and even current Test thirtysomethings Mike Hussey and Marcus North racking up consistent big scores in all forms of domestic cricket. But on January 19, 2003, in a one-dayer against England, young MJ Clarke from NSW got the nod.
“He was the shining light of the younger brigade coming through,” recalls then-chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns. “I can’t remember all the big names in the mix, but Michael was the right age. As a selector, you have to keep in mind that you always need to be preparing for the future. Michael was young, but he also displayed an enormous amount of talent. I don’t think it was a daring call. He warranted selection.”
In a match that also saw the debut of a blond all-rounder by the name of Shane Watson, Clarke performed admirably. He scored 39 not out, while taking a wicket and effecting a run-out in a victory that kept intact Australia’s four-year unbeaten streak against England in ODIs.
Later that week, a West Australian all-rounder called Michael Clark (with no “e”) took man-of-the-match honours in his state’s one-day victory over NSW. His career would turn out to be short-lived. But the kid known as “Pup” was only just warming up. He wasn’t dismissed until his fourth ODI, by which time he averaged 208, and soon became a fixture in the one-day side.
Clarke’s chance in the Test arena came when captain Ricky Ponting broke his thumb before the 2004 series in India. Selectors brought in the raw 23-year-old over Victoria’s far more experienced Brad Hodge, then 29, in career-best form and perhaps the better credentialed of the two.
Making the most of his chance, Clarke immediately displayed what a special talent he was, with a brilliant debut century in the first innings of the first Test at Bangalore. He was lucky to survive a plumb LBW shout in the 90s, but the official scoresheet records an innings of 151 – still his highest Test score at the start of the current Australian summer.
In 2001, opener Matthew Hayden accumulated consistent big scores by thrusting his huge right leg forward and sweeping the Indian spin attack into oblivion. The Hayden method was attack by blunting. In the landmark 2004 series, Clarke showed himself to be the most fleet-footed Australian batsman since Dean Jones, regularly dancing down the wicket to nullify the spin – a role he still performs without peer. It was attack by artistry. Clarke’s debut knock was the tone-setter that gave his team the momentum and confidence to go on and win a series in India for the first time since 1969.
To this day, Clarke champions the value of first-innings runs. Despite scoring 448 runs in the 2009 Ashes, he chastises himself because his two centuries were scored in the second dig (despite making 83 in the first innings at Cardiff and 93 in the first innings at Headingley).
“You’ve got to give credit where credit’s due,” Clarke says. “England won some big moments, and we as a batting group didn’t perform in the first innings at Lord’s and the first innings at The Oval. We lost both of those Tests and I certainly take a lot of responsibility for that. Yes, my series was good when you look at my overall statistics, but I scored a lot of my runs in the second innings, and I remember saying, going into the last Test, that it’s really important I stand up in the first innings and get a really big score.”
CLARKE HAS NEVER BEEN AFRAID to declare his goals publicly, and has often copped the tag of big-noter on account of it. Supporters praise him for setting the bar high. Cynics say he’s full of himself. Mindful that batsmen of the calibre of Ponting, Hayden and Steve Waugh were all dropped at some point in Australia’s dominant era, Clarke proclaimed after his successful 2004 series against India that he hoped never to suffer the same fate.
That seemed a reasonable pronouncement upon his return to Australia, when Clarke belted 141 against New Zealand at the Gabba, becoming only the third Aussie batsman to make a ton on his home and away debut. But it wasn’t just the statistic that stamped Clarke as special. It was the way he did it. Clarke went from 89 to 100 in one Chris Martin over and the exuberance and audacity with which he brought up his hundred on the last ball of the morning session had stirring echoes of Steve Waugh’s famous SCG century v England in 2002-2003.
A year later, after patchy performances against England, the World XI and the Windies, Clarke was dropped from the Test team. As the doubters snickered, he bunkered down and made runs.
Clarke rebounded with a string of big scores for NSW and played in the autumn Tests against Bangladesh after an absence of less than six months. Then, when Shane Watson – who else? – was injured on the eve of The Ashes, Clarke took full advantage, bagging two tons in Australia’s 5-0 whitewash. Not for nothing is his arm inked with the words “Carpe Diem”, the Latin phrase popularised in the movie Dead Poets Society, which translates as “seize the day”. Clarke has since established himself as Australia’s second-best batsman after Ponting, raising his average to 50 or thereabouts and placing himself as the logical captain-in-waiting.
Inevitably, he has been asked if he’d like to lead Australia. Sensibly, he has told the truth and said yes. He has continually been faulted for this stance, but what’s a bloke supposed to say? That he wouldn’t treasure the job every Aussie kid aspires to? Two years ago he told Alpha: “I’d be amazed if any kid playing cricket while growing up doesn’t dream of captaining their country one day. I certainly did and to this day I’d love to do it.” What’s brash about that statement?
Nowadays, Clarke is remarkably politic on the subject of the captaincy. After his second straight Ashes loss as captain on English soil, Ponting said he’d like to try for third time lucky in 2013. Clarke would be 32 then. Like Prince Charles, he may end up being the guy in the middle, with the crown passing on to a younger successor. But the thought doesn’t faze him.
“I love playing under Ricky Ponting,” he says. “I’ve learned so much from him and if the captaincy were to pass me by, that wouldn’t worry me at all.”
Other Australian cricket luminaries are more forthright. Shane Warne, who handed Clarke his baggy green for his Test debut in India, is adamant his close mate should be given his chance sooner rather than later.
“Michael Clarke has really matured as a batsman and he understands his own game now,” Warne tells Alpha. “The other thing is he’s just been announced the captain of the Twenty20 side. We need Ricky in the Australian side playing as long as possible, but down the track Ricky might go, ‘You know what? I’ll help you, Pup.’ He might take a backwards step and Pup might take up the captaincy and Ricky might just play.
“If Ricky wants to keep playing one-day and Test cricket, well then, Pup just has to wait. And if the time passes by and Ricky plays for five years and Clarke’s 33 and there’s some young gun there that’s ready to do it, well then, so be it, Pup, you miss out. Let’s go to the next guy.
“But what Michael Clarke will offer in the captaincy is something very good. We’ve seen him captain in Twenty20s or when Ricky’s injured in the one-dayers and he’s done a bloody good job. I really like his captaincy style. He’s got that knack, that golden-ball sort of knack, like when he took three wickets in an over to beat India in Sydney (2007-08). And he plays the game the right way, in the right spirit, so I hope he’s the next captain.”
Clarke has certainly performed the role of Test deputy with aplomb. At various low points in The Ashes – and in particular, after Ponting grassed a catch at Lord’s – Clarke could be seen discussing the situation with his skipper, not in a condescending way, and not in an overbearing way, but in a manner that showed both respect and a belief in the value of his own input.
“His role as vice-captain is to help Ricky and to organise things like a good deputy does and do anything you can do to make his job easier,” Warne says. “And if you look back through the Ashes series, he did that really well. So he’d be the perfect captain. He ticks all the boxes and he’d do a bloody good job. He’s got a good cricket brain on him, the public like him, and the kids like him.”
Warne might not be quite on the money with the public’s affection for Clarke, with recent surveys suggesting he is the most overrated Australian player. But he’s bang on target, as Tony Greig would say, about the kids. Go to any Australian training team appearance and see who has the most mini cricket bats thrust in their face.
If the kids don’t care about the so-called hype surrounding Clarke, perhaps the rest of us should forget about it, too. We might resent the fact that Clarke has never held a real job outside of cricket, but Marcus North is in the same boat and we’ve never held that against him. Mitchell Johnson admitted personal problems threw him off his game during The Ashes, but when is the last time you’ve heard Clarke blame problems in his private life as an excuse for a run of outs? And please, don’t bog us down in that tired old whinge about the bloke referring to himself in the third person (Michael Clarke calling himself Michael Clarke instead of “me” or “I”). Half the sporting world does it, and the only reason the other half doesn’t is that they’re not important enough.
The real issue here is Australian sports fans haven’t yet worked out what sort of private behaviour we expect from our out-and-out sports stars in the era of celebrity. In the US, they’ve got it sorted. People want their stars in big cars with hot girlfriends. In the US, a sports star’s life without bling is an insult to all those who wish they had the talent to make it themselves. Here, we still seem to want our sporting heroes to be mowing the lawn each weekend and rubbing shoulders with the masses. Nice thought, but if Michael Clarke joined in that game of cricket on Bondi Beach, he’d be mobbed.
We owe it to guys like Clarke to reserve our opinions on anything they do off the field, barring extreme bad-boy behaviour, which Clarke has no history of. The only measure we should judge them by is whether our pulse quickens when they take the field. If it’s three-for not many, do we feel reassured to see MJ Clarke striding out to bat? You bet we do. When it’s three-for plenty, are we excited about watching a bloke who can keep the scoreboard ticking over with an array of strokes both classical and inventive? As Lara Bingle would say, bloody oath we are.