Michael Clarke rejoined the Australia cricket team in New Zealand ahead of their two-Test series against the Blackcaps, beginning this week.
Ricky Ponting’s deputy had flown back to Sydney in the midst of what was an ultimately victorious Chappell-Hadlee Trophy series for Australia to sort out what were officially described as “personal, non-cricket matters” by Australia general manager of cricket Michael Brown about a week ago.
Brown went on to ask that Clarke’s “privacy be respected” as the batsman landed in the middle of a media frenzy surrounding his then-fiancée Lara Bingle and the publication of a nude photograph of her in an Australian women’s magazine.
Bingle, who had first shot to fame as the face of Australia’s controversial “Where the bloody h**l are you?” tourism campaign, had originally stated through her management that she was going to sue in relation to the publication of the photo, allegedly taken while the model was in the midst of an affair with an AFL footballer (prior to the relationship with Clarke). While initially indignant at the publication of the photo, Bingle subsequently sold her story to the same magazine.
Reports were that Clarke was furious with the move, and by the weekend Clarke’s management had released a statement saying the engagement between Pup and Bingle was over.
While the media spotlight on Clarke will inevitably take a while to fade, Pup’s arrival in New Zealand should at least shield him from some of the glare now that he’s survived the media scrum that greeted him on his arrival in Wellington.
Reports in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph suggest that across the Tasman though, Bingle’s family are making attempts to sell their side of the story to Australian magazines but in the Land of the Long White Cloud the Australia vice-captain will have the sanctuary of cricket in which to immerse himself.
Without him, Australia captured the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy with a match to spare before the home side at least reclaimed some pride with a 51-run victory over the Aussies in the final match of the series to ensure the score line read 3-2 and not the more demoralising 4-1 that Ponting’s men were aiming for.
While Australia can rue some controversial umpiring decisions in that one – including Ponting’s first-ball dismissal when the skipper was hit on the helmet by a Shane Bond delivery – Clarke’s focus will now be on putting in a decent performance in the five-day format.
Caught in a storm that was not of his making over the past week or so, the 28-year-old was the subject of a flood of opinion as to whether or not he was cut out for the One-Day International and Test captaincy that he’s long been groomed for.
Yes, Clarke took the rare decision to pick up sticks mid-tour to deal with relationship problems but they’ve now been laid to rest. The New South Welshman might not have been saying much to the media in the past few days, but the message has been loud and clear: he’s not courting publicity and it will be his cricket that does the talking. As it should.
To provide some context regarding Clarke and the future captaincy, Ricky Ponting was ultimately forgiven by the powers and became the Australia skipper after a few years earlier sporting a black eye sustained in a fight in front of a media conference where he admitted to suffering from an alcohol problem. Cricket Australia forgave and forgot on that occasion and Punter has gone on to successfully captain Australia to World Cups and Ashes glory (and yes, a couple of memorable losses) among his achievements.
Clarke’s sins here are few, and his dignity in the face of what now must be regarded as a failing relationship and an Australian media that had whipped itself into a frenzy as the story spilled from the gossip columns to the sports pages must be commended.
At one stage during the last week’s saga, it had been reported that Bingle’s $200,000 engagement ring might have been floating around in the sewers somewhere (reports that it seems have since been denied). It’s safe to say, that Clarke’s future captaincy aspirations have not been flushed down the toilet as a result of the saga either.
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