Matthew Hayden all praise for Michael Clarke - Cricket News Update
Former Australian cricketer, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MJ-Clarke-c1978’s admirers for his unselfish declaration against India on day three of the Sydney Test.
The 40-year-old opening batsman from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Queensland-c834 said that after going through a lot of changes in his personality, Clarke is a grown up player and that he hopes the Kangaroos would continue their dominance under his captaincy.
The Australian skipper led the hosts from the front in the second Test of the four-match series scoring a monumental 329 not out before declaring the innings. Clarke had a chance and was in a good shape as well to target 400 individual runs but the right-handed
batsman preferred team over his personal records and declared the innings at 659, putting http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 into bat.
"I think we've seen some variation in his personality and that's just what growing up means,” said Hayden while praising Clarke, who took over from Rickey Ponting as captain in April last year following Ashes and World Cup shambles.
“He came into the set-up as a round little 21-year-old in the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 tour, full of life, full of spunk...he sort of put a lot of faith in behind him, as did the rest of the team,” he added further.
Clarke’s personal form has remained outstanding since he took over captaincy. The century in Sydney was his fourth ton as captain. Hayden said that the painstaking innings of Clarke at SCG showed he has matured as player.
"It's been a long time coming. he's grown up in the set-up, and there's not a lot of guys (who) do that,” said Hayden, whose own record of 380 runs was under threat from incumbent Aussie skipper.
Speaking to the media at the day end press conference on Thursday, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120 had said that when he was at the crease, surpassing Sir Don Bradman and Mark Taylor’s records were not on his mind.
"I didn't think about it (Bradman and Taylor's record). It wasn't in my head," Clarke said after third day's play.
Hayden also lavished praise on http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Andrew-Graham-Downton-c44379 Cowan for making a remarkable start to the Test cricket.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 won the second Test by an innings and 68 runs and now lead the four-match series 2-0.
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