Clarke suffers another blow

Retiring captain Michael Clarke was copped with criticism, with former team-mates, Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds being the latest culprits to climb on the anti-Clarke bandwagon.

In disastrous form with bat in hand, with every failure there was rapidly growing calls for his head, and before actions were made to omit him from the Australian side, Clarke himself made the decision to step away from the game for the best needs of the team. However he should be remembered for the consistent workhorse of the past he has been, rather than the feeble form he has accounted with. Unfortunately his career ended on a distasteful note and his problems went relatively unnoticed for he was part of a team with several experienced players struggling for breath. But he had no place to hide and eventually he had to come out of the dark.

Burly former opener Matthew Hayden revealed a shocking incident in which Clarke threatened to give back the ‘baggy green’ if he was forced to field at bat-pad.

He however softened the blow, saying Clarke has learned from his mistakes and become better for it.

“I’ll never forget the day that Justin Langer couldn’t go bat-pad because he had head injuries”, Hayden told Triple M Brisbane.

“We needed someone and usually it goes to the youngest in the side”.

“He (Clarke) said-“If I have to wear that, I will hand my baggy green back”.

“The thing is it is an indictment on Michael. But in context of this conversation to say that he knew that he didn’t want to do that, he was skilful in other places”.

“But in hindsight we should have said mate that’s exactly what will happen, we will have your baggy green back and that’s the way it will roll”.

“But he learned from that, he became a much better person and a much better player through those lessons”.

“He would polarise people…the team is a reflection of people in society it’s no different”.

“Michael always had really strong opinions and when you’ve got strong opinions and you’re a young ‘fella’ in the group, he would polarise people.

“He had a hot head, he wore his heart on his sleeve and he had a very definite opinion of who he was and where he wanted to go”.

“Sometimes those (Clarke’s opinions) ruffled feathers, I know for a fact that they had ruffled mine at times”.

Controversial character Andrew Symonds regrets that he had a positive relationship with Clarke and feels that he lacks natural talent.

Speaking on the Today Show, Symonds said: “To me he wasn’t a natural leader as we’ve had in the past”.

“It is very easy to fall behind a Steve Waugh or Ricky Ponting when asked to do something. They were the sort of men that didn’t need to say a great deal”.

“Michael’s got a completely different style, which he’s entitled to. I didn’t play a great deal of cricket, I played quite a lot with him, but he’s got his style”.

“It’s a situation which will be debated and talked about for quite some time, his style, and the way he’s gone about things over the years”.

The relationship between them was promising and they enjoyed each other’s company, when they embarked on a road-trip around Australia in 2006. However when Clarke was part of the leadership core, who punished Symonds for going fishing instead of attending a training-camp was the signal for the beginning of the end of a fast-deteriorating proportion. Their relationship ended when Symonds’s contact was torn up when he drank outside the team hotel during the T20 World Cup five years ago and they don’t have any contact today whatsoever.

“I’ve moved on from that stage in my life. It’s a shame it happened”.

“But as we all know you can’t get along with everyone and in a group of men like that there will always be clashes”.

“I did some silly things in my time but there was a number of things I didn’t agree with and still don’t that Michael does and says”, concluded Symonds.