Micheal Clarke is one player on which a team can rely upon to bat in its middle order. For the past 6 years, Clarke has been filling the position of Australia’s middle order batsman quite impressively and has been able to deliver
some memorable performances for his country. He surely is one batsman who has matured with time and understands the responsibility that he has to show for Australia.
A lot of focus has been on Clarke and his role as the future captain of Australia. For a player who has been around for more than 6 years and who has won numerous matches for Australia it’s only fair to be considered as a strong
contender for the Future Captain of the side. Now more than ever Australia needs a captain that is experienced and can take them to the same heights as Ponting has taken them during his captaincy. Ricky Ponting has not many years left in him to lead the Australian
side and sooner or later he will hand over the reins to Michael Clarke, who is one awesome batsman. He has been grooming Clarke well under him for Captaincy, and when he retires from International cricket, Australia won’t be so worried over the fact that they
have to train a new or inexperienced captain.
But the question is whether Clarke would be as successful as his mentor, Ponting. Only time will tell, but one thing that has been noticeable for quite some time is that Australia has not been consistent in their performance and
has lost a number of series recently. Moreover Australia would have to build upon from where Ponting left off. History has shown that teams have found it difficult to carry on their momentum and success rate when experienced player leave and it remains to
be seen how successful Australia will be when Ponting retires somewhere in the future.
Australia is not the same team as it used to be and their success rate has been spotty of late. Australia may have to face some losses before their new captain will settle into his role. Ricky Ponting is famous for his aggressive
attitude towards the game and his ability to tackler head on with the opposition has been appreciated throughout his career. He has won Australia numerous tournaments and series. For the team to shift from that mode of aggressive captaincy to a somewhat less
aggressive play would be one challenging task for the Aussie players. Clarke is the Twenty20 Captain of the Australian side and has led them in the One Day format a number of times. His captaincy style would not be new for the Aussie players but if a person
is made Captain in all three formats than the ground reality changes a bit. A new captain in all three formats of the game is something Australian players would have to adapt themselves to.
Under the Captaincy of Ponting, Australia has lost number of important series in recently. But these loses reflect more the overall performance of the team rather than the Captain himself. Ricky Ponting himself has been in decent
form and one should not take anything away from him. Suggestions from various corners have come that Michael Clarke who is currently the Vice-Captain of Australia will bring sound leadership skills to the side. Though, he is not someone who is as aggressive
as Ponting he can lead this side in an almost complete manner.
But the question remains will he be as effective as compared to Ponting, because Ponting has this ability of making wise judgments and decisions when it matters the most. If we combine his decision power with his aggressive attitude
towards the game we get a complete captain.
Michael Clarke is a sort of a player who believes in his cricketing knowledge more than having an aggressive attitude. Whenever he has been given captaincy in the past he has shown composure but obviously lacked the experience
that Ponting has.
When Clarke was made Captain of the One Day side for the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 series in Abu Dhabi, he was not as effective as Ponting would have been. Though Australia won that series, they didn’t win it as convincingly as they are used to.
Also, when http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 was 3-1 up in the series they lost the last match after posting a decent total on the board. Aussie skipper Michael Clarke was highlighted for his less aggressive captaincy as compared to Ponting. It was also highlighted that though Michael
Clarke would be a perfect captain for them in the future but presently he has to gain some experience as a Vice-Captain and its necessary he should be groomed under the captaincy of Ricky Ponting.
Ricky Ponting has been quite forthcoming in teaching him different skills and tricks required during different sessions of the match. As Ricky Ponting is well suited for Test and One dayers rather Twenty20 cricket, so Clarke was
made Captain of the Twenty20 side.
Most recently http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754.
He led Australia to a successful Twenty20 World Cup in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 before losing to England in the final.
He is one fine cricketer who has achieved a lot in his cricketing career. He has a lot of years of cricket left to play and has all the right ingredients to be a successful captain for Australia. He has the ideas, the heart, and
attitude to lead the Aussie side. More importantly he has the opportunity to learn, as much as he can from Ponting, as a Vice-Captain. For a Vice-Captain there would never be a greater opportunity to learn if your Captain is Ricky Ponting.
Recently in October he captained the side for the One Day series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750. Only one match was played in the three match series which Australia lost. Australia made a total of 289 but India were effective in their chase and
in the end managed the Aussie total.
In Wednesday’s match, which Australia lost by one wicket, Clarke blamed himself for not using Steven Smith in time when http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 were 8 down. Smith had bowled 3 over’s for 8 runs and could have been effective for Australia. This
again shows that he still needs some experience to be the captain of the side and make effective decisions for the side at crucial moments. For him to be under the wings of Ponting is a wonderful opportunity to gain some experience as a Vice-Captain before
the burden of captaincy would be placed on his shoulders. If in some One-Dayers he is given opportunity to lead his side he should utilize it to learn as much as he could, and he should also learn from his mistakes. If Clarke is able to combine his wonderful
talent with some aggressive attitude he would definitely be a successful Captain for Australia in the future.
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