I'm Not A Bad Sport - But I Still Won't Walk, Says Pup
Sydney Morning Herald
Monday January 14, 2008
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 size of the job he may one day inherit 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, and yesterday 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 because he was shocked and disappointed at himself after scoring his first golden duck in Test cricket. He also said he was "100 per cent positive" he caught Sourav Ganguly at second slip as the game built to a controversial climax on day five.That catch was among the incidents that infuriated Kumble, because despite striking 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," Clarke said. "I hope it doesn't happen again, I hope I don't get too many golden ducks in Test cricket. I am definitely not saying I am a walker, but if a similar incident happens again I am certain I would react differently."[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 [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 - 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.Clarke insisted on fronting the media yesterday to present his side of the story, and reflected on the fine line between Andrew Symonds admitting he should have been out, caught behind, on 30 before going on to make a big century and his own second-innings dismissal."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."The Indian attack on the Australians' sportsmanship has not only forced the team to take stock of its pledge to the spirit of cricket, but moved Clarke to a period of soul-searching during which he consulted his parents and his girlfriend, Lara Bingle. He could not escape the furious fallout from the Test, irrevocably tainted by the Harbhajan Singh race controversy, by simply switching off his phone between games. It also caused him to contemplate 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," he said. "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."Every captain gets their chance on the field to show what great leaders they are, but the amount of work Ricky has done off the field in the last few days when the rest of us go away and turn the phone off and have some time to ourselves, it's full credit to [him]. He has been the frontman."
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald