Michael Clarke Discussion thread

[pasag]

Concerns about Michael Clarke

Love the bloke but NUFAN brought this up in the Aus-India thread earlier today:

I have just decided to look at Michael Clarke's stats a bit closer.

I wanted to see how he performed in situations where he went out to bat with Australia on a bad score.

He's batted at 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 so it was hard to say exactly what a bad score is, however I decided on 2/50 3/75, 4/120, 5/160 and 6/190.

There has been 12 instances in his career where he's come into bat in a bad situation and in that time he has made 203 runs at an average of 16.92 with a highest score of 37.

Do you think 12 innings is too small or a slight problem for Clarke? I have to say there was an instance when the score was 4/121 [just off the criteria] and he made a score which would have helped the average a bit.

and also the blog Pappus' plane looks at the exact same thing:

Clarke when the pressure's off

Thoughts?

 

[Uppercut]

Brad Hodge ftw.

 

[Xuhaib]

Yup he is overrated he dosen't give the same sense of comfort as you get from the likes of Hussey.

 

[Top_Cat]

Love the bloke but NUFAN brought this up in the Aus-India thread earlier today:



and also the blog Pappus' plane looks at the exact same thing:

Clarke when the pressure's off

Thoughts?

Can see it as a problem but he's such a young bloke (in age and Test career), you'd think he'd start to correct it soon enough. He's had to work on so many aspects of his game, this is another and I doubt he's be unaware. Dunno why people are expecting him to be the 'gun' in the team, even Ponting and Steve Waugh weren't at the same stages of their careers.

He has scored some tough runs; the scores don't give it away but in his first Test, the team was under some pressure, Kumble was threatening to run through the rest of the side. So he can do it. Just needs to work at demonstrating it more often. It's definitely not as simple 'Michael Clarke crumbles under pressure'.

 

[pup11]

The problem with Clarke is pure and simple, give him a nice platform to walk into and he would come a bat like millionaire, but when the pressure is on his whole technique goes haywire, his footwork starts looking tangled, and he almost radiates a nervous energy out there while he is batting, i would only put this down to a mental block more than anything else, he is talented player and we all know that, he can do well under pressure too as he has proved a lot of times in ODI games, but test cricket is a different ball game and he would have to step-up and show his class when the chips are down, in order to justify the kind of backing and treatment he has been getting all through his test career, he is also the vc now, so if he keeps wilting under pressure then obviously he would evoke doubts like these in the future too.

 

[andruid]

Are you all saying that he is effectively the Australian Ian Bell

 

[Richard]

Haha, was thinking "basically he's Ian Bell esque" when reading this thread.

Clarke is IMO less likely to end-up a failure of this kind than Bell is (I still have a modicum of hope for Bell myself) but well, certainly there's a pattern of some sorts emerging.

FTR, I thought Clarke was not Test-class in his first stint in the side (2004/05-2005/06) and shouldn't have been playing, so I'm not going to start judging him too harshly yet, as he still averages something like 60 since his 2006/07 recall.

Let's wait and see.

 

[Johnners]

Can see it as a problem but he's such a young bloke (in age and Test career), you'd think he'd start to correct it soon enough. He's had to work on so many aspects of his game, this is another and I doubt he's be unaware. Dunno why people are expecting him to be the 'gun' in the team, even Ponting and Steve Waugh weren't at the same stages of their careers.

He has scored some tough runs; the scores don't give it away but in his first Test, the team was under some pressure, Kumble was threatening to run through the rest of the side. So he can do it. Just needs to work at demonstrating it more often. It's definitely not as simple 'Michael Clarke crumbles under pressure'.

AWTA

It's a concern, but I don't buy the "he's never done it" talk.

 

[pup11]

Can see it as a problem but he's such a young bloke (in age and Test career), you'd think he'd start to correct it soon enough. He's had to work on so many aspects of his game, this is another and I doubt he's be unaware. Dunno why people are expecting him to be the 'gun' in the team, even Ponting and Steve Waugh weren't at the same stages of their careers.

He has scored some tough runs; the scores don't give it away but in his first Test, the team was under some pressure, Kumble was threatening to run through the rest of the side. So he can do it. Just needs to work at demonstrating it more often. It's definitely not as simple 'Michael Clarke crumbles under pressure'.

Mate every run one scores in test cricket is tough, there are no easy up for grabs in test cricket, and if you pick Clarke's record post the last the first Ashes test in Brisbane, his record is phenomenal, but when Aussies are in a spot of bother he has always been found wanting, he is one of the main and even experienced batsmen in the Aussie test line-up now, so he has to live upto that responsibility, because Haydos too wouldn't be around for too long, so it would be upto the likes him, Ponting and Hussey to set big scores fro Australia.

I am sure he would overcome this problem of his with time, but its one of those things he needs to overcome to prove he is deserving enough to captain the Aussie side in the future.

 

[Xuhaib]

AWTA

It's a concern, but I don't buy the "he's never done it" talk.

Apart from his first two test hundreds I can never recall an innings under pressure.

 

[Richard]

Yeah, hence "he's rarely though not never done it".

 

[Johnners]

I know ODIs are a different format, but the fact that he HAS played numerous innings under pressure in ODIs is further proof afaic that he has what it takes. Obviously test matches are more taxing mentally than ODIs, but the evidence is there that he can do it. IMO it's only a matter of done before he shakes the tag in test matches. He'll play a vital hand under pressure in the 2nd dig this match imo.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Have never rated him. He's soft and always has been.

My thoughts on this matter are well documented, don't feel I have to add anything to it.

 

[Top_Cat]

Apart from his first two test hundreds I can never recall an innings under pressure.

What a load of rubbish. Two I can think of are his second innings 91 at Lords (although Australia were ahead in the game, it was not by much and he was the driver for Aus getting in a winning position) and his ton in Adelaide against England where the Aussies were facing a score of 550. Sure it wasn't backs against the wall but they were pressurised innings' where his team needed him and he came through.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

In b4 T_C brings up Watson in reply to my last post.

 

[Top_Cat]

In b4 T_C brings up Watson in reply to my last post.

Haha, was thinking it but thought I'd let the sheer irony of the situation take hold. I'm dramatic that way.

 

[Richard]

You were indulging in a bit of dramatic irony?

 

[Top_Cat]

You were indulging in a bit of dramatic irony?

Ironic, no?

EDIT: FTR, I like Watto and have said so for ages. He just gives so much material to rib him with, I..I.....I'm weak and can't resist.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Haha, was thinking it but thought I'd let the sheer irony of the situation take hold. I'm dramatic that way.

IMO you were thinking "Oh ****, something happened today right?".

 

[Top_Cat]

IMO you were thinking "Oh ****, something happened today right?".

Undeniable.