Michael Clarke

Michael Clarke scores a hundred in his first proper game as Australia's OFFICIAL captain...

he has scored a hundred and has the captaincy are things finally going to be on the up for the player they used to call pup??

what do you guys think about him, and will he be any different to ponting's style of captaincy..

Discounting the last Test against England in Sydney, because it was not really Clarke's team, his record as captain so far is P6 W2 D2 L2. Not outstanding, but not too bad either, especially after such a beating in the Ashes.

He has turned the Australian public opinion around after many voiced their disapproval and his team mates seem to be right behind him in their joint goal to once again make Australia world beaters.

Now as captain, his batting has not suffered and he appears to captain in an attacking manner. I also think he will be very focussed for the task in hand.
But like all captains you can only work with what you are given, and it is part of their job to get the most out of them that you can. I see Clarke as having done this to a good degree.

I don't think Clarke will let things get to him as much as Ponting did when Australia were having onfield problems and will definitely be calmer.

its gonna be tough for him i think

there are alot of calls for ponting to go , hussey is 37 next year and has been playing in all formats and you would think that hes gonna retire sooner rather than later and haddin wont be in the team much longer either imo

thats really gonna leave clarke with a very inexperienced top7 and imo a top7 lacking class, hes gonna have to not only captain the team but also have the responsibility of bringing through all the younger or inexperienced guys like marsh, khawaja, warner, paine and hughes.

thats got to be a big ask imo

When Ponting was captain for most of his career he had the likes of Hayden, Gilchrist, Gilespie, Warne, McGrath and a host of other world beaters.

He was often criticised as not being as great a captain due to having things easy. Especially since the retirement of those great players.

Clarke won't have that, he will have to rebuild a team and thus have a bigger challenge ahead of him. The upside of that is if he succeeds, he will be higher rated as a captain than Ponting ever was.

Where does Skyeman get 2 losses from? If you don't include the test at Sydney surely it's only the one (recent) loss, with 2 wins and 2 draws?

So far Clarke seems to have energised the team, which is his main plus point. I think sometimes he tries to be a bit too clever (but I have the same bugbear with Dhoni), but he'll have to be more creative than Ponting needed to be. What I've seen so far I've liked, so it'll be interesting.

I think Aus will be mid-table for a while, until a few of these youngsters step up the mark to true world class (certainly I think Marsh and Cummins could be). You would still expect them to beat New-Zealand and West Indies, but not necessarily the top guns. The series against India will be very interesting.

Ponting gets a ridiculous amount of stick considering statistically he's the best captain of all time. I think a lot of this is down to negative media perception, especially in England with the '05 and '09 ashes (despite the fact that he behaved impeccably in '09). Those of us who know a bit about the game recognise that no matter how great a team he had at his disposal, winning two world cups on the bounce without losing (and indeed in the second instance looking like losing), winning 16 tests on the bounce and achieving an ashes series whitewash is no mean feat. Steve Waugh had a great team at his disposal but didn't manage all of that.

but the point Mike is that Ponting struggled, and really struggled, when the best players retired. Yes it was to be expected, and no team copes well with losing three or four ATGs in the space of a few months, but ultimately that will always change the public perception. Also however great his record was, he lost the Ashes three times, and the Aussies don't like that very much.

As for Clarke, I like what I've seen so far, he seems to get lots of energy out of his team and tactically has some very good ideas. I'd go along with some of the criticism and say sometimes he's a bit too impatient, too quick to change things rather than wait for things to bear fruit, but he'll learn I've no doubt of that.

Mad for Chelsea wrote:but the point Mike is that Ponting struggled, and really struggled, when the best players retired. Yes it was to be expected, and no team copes well with losing three or four ATGs in the space of a few months, but ultimately that will always change the public perception. Also however great his record was, he lost the Ashes three times, and the Aussies don't like that very much.

Public perception is nonsense. Ponting is one of the all-time great captains. Even when he was winning everything everybody was saying that it was only because he had a great side. He's been unfairly criticised throughout his career, mainly I suspect because he talks straight and does BS too much. People don't like that.

I wouldn't say Ponting was a great captain. Some of his decisions in 2005 were baffling but I do agree that he does get a lot of flak considering what he has won.
He has had great players at his dispossal but that guarantee's nothing.
He led with his bat and didn't always behave in a gentleman's manner but he was a fine skipper for the Aussies.

As for Clarke. I haven't really seen enough to judge.