The state of Michael Clarke's captaincy.

[War]

The recent revelations by Mikey Arthur - Australia Cricket News: Mickey Arthur legal claims leaked | ESPN Cricinfo about his tenure as coach, made me start to think about the state of Clarke's captaincy. But we will get to that.

Firstly going back to 2011 when AUS lost the Ashes & were knocked out in the world cup quarter finals, their was a loud crescendo for Ponting to lose the captaincy across all formats. I was still of the view that Ponting shouldn't have resigned as captain, but should have kept the captaincy (at least in tests) because i didn't see any younger players who had the same captaincy "aura" that had become synonymous with AUS captains in the last 25 years from Border, Taylor, S Waugh, Warne, Taylor, Ponting.

Ponting was often criticized for not being very imaginative and very tactical - but he certain had an aura that players respected in the dressing room.

Clarke clearly is AUS best tactical captain since Taylor - but he has no aura. Clarke to me has never graduated from the "pup" nickname he was anointed all those years ago. You compare a young S Waugh in the mid 80s to Waugh in 99 when he became skipper or young punter in late 90s compared to when he became skipper in 2004 & you see a mature figure. I just don't see that with Clarke.


With senior players like Katich, Ponting, Hussey gone - Clarke sadly has no control over the dressing room. Despite all the runs he had been making, he unfortunately doesn't inspire the dressing room that way Ponting did, which is why when one reads between the lines of what Arthur is saying about his relationship with Watson, home-work gate, Warner's erratic behavior - their is no way these things would happen under the captaincies of Border, Taylor, Waugh or Ponting. Never.

I remember Justin Langer used to say he would jump into front of bus for S Waugh, how he inspired them. Would any member of the current team do that for Clarke?...Mann i doubt it


In this period of doldrums which is just like the late 80s, AUS need another Border type leader - just not a captain who set a good field and make smart bowling changes. Because sooner rather than later its going to start affecting Clarke's batting (if it hasn't already) & lord know what AUS will do if Clarke isn't scoring runs consistently.

 

[sifter132]

I find it difficult to criticise captains that are poor in the dressing room, because it's often based on hearsay and rumour. But on the face of it, you're right, this isn't Clarke's area of strength. Perhaps Lehmann's promotion will help to fix that issue a bit.

Just on the Watson thing...I don't think it's any coincidence Watson's poor run with the bat began almost exactly when Clarke took over as captain. Watson and Ponting had a great bond from Watson's early career in Tasmania, and from Ponting picking Watson early into the Australian squad as a player of promise. Watson's best partnerships seemed to come with Ponting, particularly in ODI cricket.

So perhaps Clarke ruined both players from that very successful Watson/Katich opening partnership.

One good thing about Clarke's captaincy though...he's been averaging about 60 since he took over. Handy

 

[War]

But that's the worrying thing, how long will Clarke be able to keep his form with all hell crashing around him.

 

[sifter132]

^Not very long at this rate. After all it's only 2-3 years ago when Clarke was struggling a bit, and 90% of Aussie fans hated him eg. for being involved with Katich incident, Symonds too, and generally seen as a whiny little ---- etc. Now he's been role reversed with Watson who was killing it 2-3 years ago. Long winded way of saying that perhaps Clarke's purple patch won't be permanent, he's dipped before, and while I love the run he's been going on, everyone tends to level out sooner or later.

Interesting too that Jim Maxwell threw up the theory that Clarke would be retiring in the next 12 months:
Ashes 2013: Michael Clarke could retire in next 12 months, reckons ABC's Jim Maxwell - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
His back would be easy to blame if he wants to bail. That may be because he's being jerked around by Cricket Australia, or he's just not enjoying it - will be interesting to monitor. I remember him saying a couple of years ago that 35 was the age he was targeting for retirement, and he wasn't one of those 'play as long as he possibly could' type of guys. He's 3 years away from 35, that may be the longest he'll hang around for.

 

[War]

Yea i saw the Maxwell comment & it does seem plausible simply because of Clarke's back issues.

 

[War]

The Ashes 2013-14 : Warne critical of Clarke's off-field role | Cricket News | England in Australia - The Ashes | ESPN Cricinfo

Interesting that Warne who is closer to most to Clarke raises this point, because i had suspected it when i made this thread after Arthur was axed as coach.