<p><strong>Michael Clarke pleased with Australia’s progress – Cricket News Update</strong></p>
<p>Australia’s skipper Michael Clarke was confident that his side was headed towards the right direction after winning the three-match One Day International (ODI) series against South Africa on Friday, October 28, 2011.</p>
<p>The series was levelled at 1-1 and yesterday’s match was the decider for both teams. However, the Aussie side justified that they are still the number one ODI side in the world.</p>
<p>After winning the final match of the series, Clarke stated, “Tonight’s another strong indication we’re working our backsides off to try and get better every day and we’re playing well as a team. I can guarantee we’ll take some confidence out of tonight
and out of this one-day series leading into the first Test.”</p>
<p>However, Clarke was expecting a tough Test series, as he rates the Proteas as tough to beat in the longest version of the game.</p>
<p>According to the 30-year-old, “I think the Tests will be as close as the one-day series. They have got a lot of very good players, a lot of experience and they are probably hoping that AB de Villiers is fit and comes back. We’re certainly looking forward
to a very tough, hard-fought series.”</p>
<p>Clarke has been doing well as captain of the team. He took over from veteran Ricky Ponting, who stepped down from the role after his side failed to reach the Semi-Final stage of the ICC World Cup 2011.</p>
<p>The new skipper of the Kangaroos led his side to series victory against Bangladesh, which was his first assignment as full time captain. He then managed to overcome Sri Lanka before winning the ODI series against the Proteas.</p>
<p>This is a very positive sign for Australian cricket, as the team has been winning every series under Clarke. Another encouraging sign for the team is that all the triumphs have come on foreign soil.</p>
<p>However, the team will be looking forward to do well in Twenty20 cricket as well. They were the runners up in the 2010 World Cup, but have been unable to perform consistently in the shortest version of the game since then.</p>
<p>Cameron White leads Australia in Twenty20 cricket and will be aiming to do well in the World Cup in 2012.</p>
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