Australian skipper Michael Clarke, same age as MS Dhoni but not as physically fit, announced on Saturday that he would be retiring from ODI cricket after the World Cup Final on Sunday. “I think it’s the right time for me and the Australian cricket team. Tomorrow will be my last ODI game for Australia,” Clarke announced at the Captain’s presser before any questions could be thrown at him regarding the Final. He said he was doing so to prolong his Test career and to leave Team Australia in better hands for the next World Cup as he didn’t think “it is realistic that I’ll be fit and healthy and available to play the next World Cup so I believe it is the right time”.
“I was very fortunate four years ago to get the opportunity to captain this one-day team. That was really good preparation for me leading up to this World Cup, I think the next Australian captain deserves the same opportunity. I’ll leave the one-day game for the Australian team in a better place than when I took over the captaincy. last World Cup we were knocked out in the quarter-final, this World Cup we have been able to make the Final and hopefully tomorrow we can go on and have success in that Final. So two Finals and one quarter-final for my time in World Cups,” he said.
Coming a day before the big Final, and despite Clarke saying it shouldn’t matter, the announcement would make the contest with New Zealand doubly special and give the team an extra bit of motivation to win even though Clarke does not enjoy the lionised reputations of either his predecessor Ricky Ponting or Steve Waugh before him.
Plagued by a degenerative back disorder and recurrent hamstring issues which had put his presence in this World Cup also under a question mark earlier, the skipper denied that the decision had anything to do with injuries. “I have had injury concerns since I was 17 and have managed to play over 200 one-dayers and over 100 Test matches so it hasn’t stopped me to date. And I don’t think it will do after this series either,” he said.
Clarke made up his mind to quit after he went home post the Sydney semi-final and talked to his wife Kyle. He told Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland, chief selector Rod Marsh and national coach Darren lehmann on Saturday morning and then his team-mates just 10 minutes before he walked into the presser. “While his decision comes as something of a surprise, Michael leaves one-day cricket on his own terms, aiming to finish on an absolute high, in front of a packed MCG as a possible World Cup-winning captain. That’s very special. Regardless of the result, he will leave the one-day international game as one of our greats,” Sutherland said.
Clarke, meanwhile, will continue as Test captain and said, “I’ve got a lot to offer as the Australia Test captain. I find Test cricket to be the pinnacle of our sport. I’m hopeful it will prolong my Test career as well. That’s obviously a priority for me, to continue to be successful in the Test format. I think by walking away from one-day cricket it probably gives me my best opportunity,” he added.
The Final would be Clarke’s 245th ODI. “It’s been an honour and a privilege to represent my country for that amount of games. I’m grateful to every player I have been lucky enough to play with and this team is no exception to that,” the veteran with 7,909 runs at an average of 44.42 and a strike rate of 78.81 said on the eve of the World Cup Final.