Yeah, shame that physical problems have caused such a rapid decline but it comes to them all.Yeah it's at the stage it was for Dravid - I'm hoping for the guy's sake that he retires.
lol what about Shane Watson?Hate to knock a guy when he is down but writing is on the wall for Clarkey the gap between his home and away average continues to rise his stats now look eerily similar to Mo yo and Mahela the two most maligned batsmen on CW.
I think Xuhaib means 'maligned for this reason', i.e. home town herolol what about Shane Watson?
Nah 2011-12 Clarke was insane. He also ripped Steyn, Philander and Morkel to pieces that summer. Home and away.Yeah it's really sad to see his dismissals in this series. I always felt that he wasn't as great as he was made out to be in 11-12 when he was milking the Indian bowling attack for triple centuries, nor is he as bad as his away records and recent stats suggest.
What was disappointing today though, was his shot selection. A same Clarke in 2009 fought it out in a losing game in the fourth innings for a brilliant 136. This time it appeared he knew he wouldn't last, so might as well chase that.
If he's got the interests of the Australian team at heart he should tough. If it's really all down to his back and the coaching staff refuses to acknowledge it, that's troubling.Can hardly come out and say his back is knackered and he is struggling with it though can he.
Yup, that's what I reckon. I reckon he's picking the ball up OK, his head is going where he wants it to but his lower half isn't helping him out. Back, hips, hamstrings - I reckon that's where the issues are.Can hardly come out and say his back is knackered and he is struggling with it though can he.
you can't be that good consistently. he had a peak, no diff to other very good bats.Yeah it's really sad to see his dismissals in this series. I always felt that he wasn't as great as he was made out to be in 11-12 when he was milking the Indian bowling attack for triple centuries, nor is he as bad as his away records and recent stats suggest.
What was disappointing today though, was his shot selection. A same Clarke in 2009 fought it out in a losing game in the fourth innings for a brilliant 136. This time it appeared he knew he wouldn't last, so might as well chase that.
How about when he made Steyn look like a club bowler?Yeah it's really sad to see his dismissals in this series. I always felt that he wasn't as great as he was made out to be in 11-12 when he was milking the Indian bowling attack for triple centuries, nor is he as bad as his away records and recent stats suggest.
Yeah that was incredible. Just owned SA completely that day.Will never forget those 5 fours in one Morkel over. Peak Clarke.
How about when Nayan Mongia made Shane Warne look like a club spinner?How about when he made Steyn look like a club bowler?
Hm, get where you're coming from. But you have to remember in 2011-12, it was pretty much unanimous that Clarke was the best in the world. He smashed around everyone, not just India like you insinuated. No one expected that to continue but I doubt anyone expected a dropoff this sharp. Even with Ponting and Tendulkar, they never quite reached tailender levels of awful. They just become below par, not utter ****e like Clarke has become. I doubt even you thought Clarke's decline would be this sharp.How about when Nayan Mongia made Shane Warne look like a club spinner?
How about when Ijaz Ahmed made McGrath look like a club bowler?
I love it when people use isolated incidents to make a point. The nature of sport is such that there will be days when you will make the greatest bowler look silly and there will be days when an 'unselectable' Finn will make you look silly. It happens to everyone if you play long enough. Every cricketer would have faced one or two incidents like that, both positive and negative. That's all there is to it, nothing more, nothing less.
Clarke will be considered a great batsman because of 8000 plus test runs and his overall career.
My point was specifically about a purple patch Clarke had in 11-12 when on this very forum he was in my view, given a bit more credit than he was perhaps due. Perhaps that is less to do with Clarke, more to do with him being from Australia and we have more fans from there on this forum.