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Michael Clarke, Australia
Captain has confirmed his retirement from international cricket at the end of
Ashes Test Series.
"I'll have one more
Test and that will be the end of my career," As per news reports,Clarke
told Channel Nine after the loss.
"I'm retiring from
international cricket. I certainly don't want to jump ship and leave the boys
now, so I'll play the last Test at The Oval, give it one last crack, but the
time is right now." He said in his interview.
"You never want to
walk away from the game but I think my performances in this series and the last
12 months have not been acceptable to me. I pride myself on leading from the
front, so that's been disappointing. You build yourself up for the big series,
the big tournaments. One-day cricket is about the World Cup and Test cricket is
about the Ashes.
"I certainly tried my
best, the boys tried their best and we got outplayed. We got beaten. Now it's
time for the next generation of players, the next captain to have his opportunity
to try and build the team and get them ready for the next Ashes series."
Clarke's change of heart
following the team's dismal showing in the pivotal fourth Test means Steven
Smith will lead the side to Bangladesh. He said he made the decision to retire
on Friday night after the second day's play at Trent Bridge.
"I've been lucky
enough to play over 100 Test matches for Australia," Clarke said.
"I've always said the game owes me nothing, I owe it everything. I'm
thankful I've been able to play it for so long."
After a three-year
apprenticeship as vice-captain, Clarke replaced Ricky Ponting as captain in
April 2011, and made his first Test tour as full-time leader to Sri Lanka that
August.
That series was won 1-0,
but it was the team's results away from home that remained a weak point
throughout his tenure - winning only four of nine overseas series and suffering
crushing defeats against, India, Pakistan and England.
There was also the
disgrace of the "Homework gate" debacle in India in 2013, which led
ultimately to the sacking of Mickey Arthur as coach, replaced by Darren Lehmann
in June of that year.
At home Clarke's teams
only lost once, to South Africa in 2012, and accomplished a 5-0 sweep of
England in 2013-14.
Clarke's own batting was a
key plank of his successes, but his battles with physical fitness and
differences of opinion with selectors punctuated his rein and ultimately helped
to wear down his run-making.
After making 12 hundreds
in his first 30 matches as leader, Clarke managed only two in his
last 13, and has not passed 50 in six Tests on this dual tour of the West
Indies and England.
Smith has meanwhile
emerged as the team's outstanding batsman, and led the Test side in three
matches against India last summer when Clarke was injured.
Clarke's chronic back and
hamstring problems had placed him on a collision course with the selectors at
the start of last summer, when he openly defied their preference for him to
play a warm-up match in Adelaide to prove his fitness to face India.
The issue was set to come
to a head on November 25, the day his close friend Phillip Hughes was struck in
a Sheffield Shield match at the SCG. Clarke rushed to be by Hughes' side in
hospital, and he was widely lauded for his role in helping the team and the
nation as all grieved the young batsman's death.
After the first Test of
the summer was shifted from Brisbane to Adelaide to allow the team extra time
to come to terms with the loss, Clarke shrugged off a recurrence of his back
trouble to make a courageous hundred as part of an Australian win. Clarke
called it the most important innings of his career; it was his last Test hundred.
..............................
The News Source-
espncricinfo, Image Source-Twitter Image for representation purpose only
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