Michael Clarke, was he actually that good?

[LegendAli]

I remember lurking the forums a few years before he called his retirement and people rated him very highly.

If memory serves me right I also witnessed the media and others putting him in the same league as KP, Hussey back in those day as well.

What kind of shocks me though is no one ever talks about this guy any more, whether its on this forum or elsewhere.

I haven't once seen his name mentioned in any threads along with other names you would expect to keep hearing.

Was he really any good? Certainly not on a list of Top 5 Aussie players, I would suspect?

 

[Rayyman]

He was good. One of the best Australian batsman of all time.

 

[Hasan123]

Yes he was brilliant leader and a terrific batsmen. Look how current Aussies players play spin and look at how Clarke played them. From 2014 onwards his back really affected him otherwise he could have got closer to 10,000 runs. When he was captain, he didn't have the best team but got them playing aggressively and to number one in tests and a world cup win.

He's not in the top 5 Aussies players of all time, but an Australian great no doubt.

My favourite Australia player of all time.

 

[Ab Fan]

Behind KP/Amla/Younis for sure..

Perhaps at same level as cook.

 

[Abdul]

Behind KP/Amla/Younis for sure..

Perhaps at same level as cook.

He is greater than all of them.

 

[Ashraful_Rox]

I think he's overrated, he has only 8 centuries, 1 vs Bangladesh, 1 vs Zimbabwe, 2 was India (Indian bowling was weak back then) out of 245 odis, he never scored vs Proteas. Ponting is the real deal.

 

[Muhammad10]

Better version of Jayawardene.

 

[BabarAkmal_Fan]

Nowhere near the level of Younis Khan in Tests

 

[Ab Fan]

He isn't just a Home Track Bully though.

One would look at his numbers and say he averages 38 away but he has scored centuries in India, Eng and a couple of great knocks in SA.

A good odi player too..

And a very good captain who carried the weaker Aus team..

I think from players of his era, he was better than Cook across all formats.

 

[Hasan123]

I think he's overrated, he has only 8 centuries, 1 vs Bangladesh, 1 vs Zimbabwe, 2 was India (Indian bowling was weak back then) out of 245 odis, he never scored vs Proteas. Ponting is the real deal.

In test you can't deny his quality. Has some brilliant centuries in India, South Africa, and England.

 

[Protea Fan]

He is one of the best player of spin bowling,used his feet beautifully against spinners

personally loved young clarke's batting stance

In my opinion he was a pretty underachiever due to the string of injuries he suffered off late

 

[Protea Fan]

Behind KP/Amla/Younis for sure..

Perhaps at same level as cook.

Obviously overall better player than Younis n Cook.......Pietersen surely is a much more dominant cricketer in test who oozes with confidence while clarke will end up as a usual stereotype great player category.But considering both formats he definitely has an edge over kp.........Amla at the end of the carrier might end up much higher than all of them will some delectable stats

 

[Ab Fan]

Obviously overall better player than Younis n Cook.......Pietersen surely is a much more dominant cricketer in test who oozes with confidence while clarke will end up as a usual stereotype great player category.But considering both formats he definitely has an edge over kp.........Amla at the end of the carrier might end up much higher than all of them will some delectable stats

Younis is better IMO.Firstly, no player has been as good as Younis in the last 10 years in Asian conditions.Even Sanga has struggled in India.YK has great performances in India and SL, popularly, 267 at Bangalore and the recent 370 chase in SL which led to the series win for Pak.

Outside Asia, Younis has done well in England and NZ while his numbers in WI are poor due to facing the likes of Ambrose and Walsh at the start of the career.In Aus,he hasn't played much but one series he played there he was Pak's leading run scorer back in 04-05.

Clarke,on other hand, lacked consistency in his game.He would score a 150+in one inning and go missing other games.KP was also like that but KP's knocks were far more impactful and in tougher conditions.

 

[Protea Fan]

Younis is better IMO.Firstly, no player has been as good as Younis in the last 10 years in Asian conditions.Even Sanga has struggled in India.YK has great performances in India and SL, popularly, 267 at Bangalore and the recent 370 chase in SL which led to the series win for Pak.

Outside Asia, Younis has done well in England and NZ while his numbers in WI are poor due to facing the likes of Ambrose and Walsh at the start of the career.In Aus,he hasn't played much but one series he played there he was Pak's leading run scorer back in 04-05.

Clarke,on other hand, lacked consistency in his game.He would score a 150+in one inning and go missing other games.KP was also like that but KP's knocks were far more impactful and in tougher conditions.

I sad it with considering both formats n he is definitely better than cook younis n kp

If take test alone cook may end as with almost twice the amount of runs clarke has had

 

[Bilal7]

Behind Amla, Younis, Cook and KP from his generation. Ahead of de Villiers, Misbah and Matthews.

OP needs to learn to use better wordings though. "Was he any good" is a ridiculous question for a guy like Michael Clarke.

 

[LegendAli]

Behind Amla, Younis, Cook and KP from his generation. Ahead of de Villiers, Misbah and Matthews.

OP needs to learn to use better wordings though. "Was he any good" is a ridiculous question for a guy like Michael Clarke.

Not my fault you guys don't hype him as much as I would expect you to.

 

[Ab Fan]

I sad it with considering both formats n he is definitely better than cook younis n kp

If take test alone cook may end as with almost twice the amount of runs clarke has had

Cook will have more runs than Clarke because he plays for England who plays lots of test matches.

Cricket is not just about accumulation of runs.There is more to it.

Cook doesn't have too many match winning knocks or game changing ones and has been overshadowed by KP in first half of his career who I still believe is England best batsmen in last 20 years.

Cook has struggled against quality pace attack time and time and hence doesn't have good record in Aus and SA. He did won a test series in Aus in 10 but that was one of Aussies weaker pace attack.

The fact that Johnson ran through England line up including Cook in 2013 tour where Eng lost 5-0 shows that Cook always has discomfort against pace bowling attack.

England best batsmen has been KP and him and Amla are best test bat from that generation.

 

[Bilal7]

Not my fault you guys don't hype him as much as I would expect you to.

Did you never watch him play yourself?

 

[LegendAli]

Did you never watch him play yourself?

Not really, I didn't follow cricket that much when he was on top but occasionally heard about his centuries and performances.

 

[Hasan123]

Not really, I didn't follow cricket that much when he was on top but occasionally heard about his centuries and performances.

You want to know how good clarke is, watch highlights of his innings vs South Africa in 2014 where he made 161 unbeaten. Suffered a fractured shoulder apparently and fought of a barrage of short pitch bowling from Morne Morkel. He's not the best player of the short ball but still found a way to score a match winning knock.

One of the best knocks I have seen.

 

[TeymurBlake]

He is actually one of my favourite batsman. I loved watching him while I was growing up. He wasn't really elegant but man getting his wicket was a big wicket as he could sneak to 50's to 100's to really big 100's. He just was a really hard batsman to get.

 

[Convict]

I remember lurking the forums a few years before he called his retirement and people rated him very highly.

If memory serves me right I also witnessed the media and others putting him in the same league as KP, Hussey back in those day as well.

What kind of shocks me though is no one ever talks about this guy any more, whether its on this forum or elsewhere.

I haven't once seen his name mentioned in any threads along with other names you would expect to keep hearing.

Was he really any good? Certainly not on a list of Top 5 Aussie players, I would suspect?

If we're talking about Australian batsmen who are overrated Hussey would be right up there.

Good international batsmen for sure but anyone who thinks he was comparable to Clarke or KP is a stats baby