Clarke To Heed The Lesson, Less Lingering

The Age

Monday January 14, 2008

By Chloe Saltau, Perth

EMBARRASSED but determined to move on, Michael Clarke said his eyes had been opened to the consequences of his failure to immediately leave the crease when he was clearly out in Sydney, and also to the enormity of the job he may inherit one day from Ricky Ponting.

The batsman at the forefront of Anil Kumble's post-game attack on the Australians' sportsmanship was unprepared for the outcry that followed his lingering at the crease after edging to first slip in the second innings. Yesterday, he admitted he would behave differently if he had his time again.

Clarke arrived in Perth for the third Test with a sharp new haircut, but he has no intention of reinventing himself completely and becoming a walker. He phoned Kumble after arriving in Perth on Saturday night, to explain that he stayed at the crease only because he was shocked and disappointed at himself after scoring his first golden duck in Test cricket.

Clarke also told the Indian captain that he was "100% positive" that he fairly caught Sourav Ganguly at second slip as the game built to a controversial climax on the fifth day.

That catch was among the incidents that infuriated Kumble because despite a captains' agreement to accept the fielder's word in such situations, he felt Clarke's honesty was compromised by his actions in standing his ground when he was clearly out earlier in the game.

"In my heart, I wish I had just walked off. I hope it doesn't happen again, I hope I don't get too many golden ducks in Test cricket," Clarke said. "I am definitely not saying I am a walker, but if a similar incident happens again, I am certain I would react differently.

"I was sitting there waiting for a couple of hours, obviously dying to have a bat. (After) failing in the first innings, with family and friends there at the game, I was that excited and keen to do well that when I went to cut the ball and it came off my glove and went to slip, it was more just the shock and disappointment of failing and getting my first first-baller in Test cricket," he explained.

"He (Kumble) knows I am not the type to try and harm the game, the last thing I would want is to put the game in jeopardy."

Clarke, 26, has been earmarked to follow Ponting into the Test captaincy, but he - along with his skipper - has been heavily criticised for his actions at the SCG, despite being the hero who eventually spun Australia to victory with three wickets in the last five balls.

Fronting the media yesterday to present his side of the story, Clarke reflected on the fine line on walking. "I know, I have copped it," Clarke said. "I can't sit here and say that when I get caught behind, I will walk. I guess my view would be different to Gilly's (Adam Gilchrist's). The way I look at it is that you get the good with the bad . . . so you feel if you get away with one, over a decent career, it evens itself out."

Clarke admits he's also contemplated how he might handle such a crisis if he were in Ponting's shoes.

"It has been a hell of an incident, or a ride. I don't think many players have experienced what we have experienced over the last five days. I think it has opened everybody's eyes to how big this game of cricket is. You don't know how you will handle that sort of stuff until you are in the chair," Clarke said.

"It has opened everybody's eyes to the amount of work that needs to go in on and off the field."

? Andrew Symonds' foes could multiply as the summer progresses, with old sparring partner Shantha Sreesanth declaring his availability for the one-day series.

Symonds and Sreesanth locked horns on several occasions during Australia's one-day tour of India last year, and the combative paceman is confident he will return to fitness in time for the triangular tournament in Australia.

Under orders from his board, Sreesanth did not comment on the confrontation between Symonds and Harbhajan Singh in the Sydney Test. But he did reveal his displeasure at Ponting's remonstrations with Sourav Ganguly, after the latter stood his ground following Michael Clarke's contentious second-innings catch in slips.

"It is not up to players to make the decisions, so it was OK for (Ganguly) to wait for the umpire," Sreesanth said. "What Ponting did was not right.

"He knows it is up to the umpire. Before you point the finger, you should know there are four fingers pointed back at you."

As for his own series prospects, Sreesanth declared his injured shoulder fully recovered and ready to withstand the rigors of the hectic one-day format in Australia next month. With ALEX BROWN

© 2008 The Age

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