Michael Clarke inducted in Australia Hall of Fame a decade after leading his side to the 50-over World Cup.
Michael Clarke inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame nearly a decade after he closed the chapter on his remarkable playing career.
At the age of 17, Clarke made his first-class debut for New South Wales. He led the team in 47 of his 115 Test matches and captained Australia to victory in the 2015 ODI World Cup.
With 8643 Test runs overall, Clarke is sixth on Australia’s all-time list. He also has 7981 ODI runs, which places him fourth. He is ranked sixth on that list with his 28 Test hundreds.
Early in his ODI career, Clarke made an impression by not being dismissed in his first three innings. He then made his Test debut during Australia’s 2004 tour of India, when he scored 151 to win player of the match in Bengaluru.
Clarke came back a stronger player than when he was discarded in late 2005. In the 2011–12 series, he scored an undefeated 329 against India at the SCG, making him the sixth Australian to reach a Test triple-century.
He scored two more double hundreds against South Africa the following season after building on his SCG effort with a double century against India in the fourth Test.
His 151 against South Africa at Cape Town in 2011, where Australia was later dismissed for 47, his 161 at the same location in 2014, where he overcame a broken shoulder to lead Australia to the top of the world rankings, and the incredibly moving 128 against India at Adelaide in 2014 were among his other innings.
“To be able to sit along so many wonderful players. Idols, role models growing up as a kid and looking up to is something I’m honoured by,” Clarke said. “Retirement does a lot of things to you. Through stages of watching cricket now, you miss parts.
“When you play at the highest level, people talk about your international career. For me, it started at six years of age. I retired at 34 so it was my life. It’s still a part of my life.
“Cricket – it’s probably so similar to life in general. You walk out and make 100 and then lift the bat, and then you walk out to field. Field in slip and drop a catch second ball of the game.”