Michael Clarke responds to criticism over slow batting
The stand-in Australian captain Michael Clarke responded to the criticism he faced after his low strike rate in the first match against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The stylish Australian player said that his innings was paced exactly according to the state of the match at that time. There was a flurry of runs coming from the bat of Shane Watson from the other end and Clarke supported him by rotating the strike.
Defending his innings, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120 said, “What's important for me as the captain of this team right now is to do whatever it takes to help Australia win every game of cricket we play.”
Clarke scored 36 runs off 57 balls in the match and was involved in a century partnership with all-rounder Shane Watson. There was no boundary hit by the Australian captain in the match and the crowd did not like it.
He said that international cricket has to be played professionally and if the crowd expects the players to hit boundaries off every ball and keep on losing wickets with rash shots, then that is not how cricket is played.
He further added, “I thought throughout that period when I was batting with Watto that it was important to get a partnership. When I first walked out to bat, the ball was reverse-swinging a little bit. It wasn't the easiest of conditions to walk out and
just smack it.”
The partnership with Watson was very important in the context of the match and it helped Australia to win the match comprehensively. The hosts won the match by six wickets while http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Watson-c96326 remained unbeaten on 161.
The successful chase was a record at the MCG. The score from Watson was also the fifth best-ever score for any Australian batsman in One Day International cricket.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 are in the lead after the first match and both the teams will once again go head-to-head in the second ODI at Hobart on 21
January, 2011. The winning momentum is definitely with Australia as the hosts have won the last two international encounters against England.
There are still six more matches to be played in the series and England will definitely be looking forward to bounce back.
Tags: