I
am Michael Clarke. I believe that this is lowest point of my cricketing
career; this is even worst then being dropped from the national team
which I once painfully endured. I am writing this to ease my twinge, to
clear my mind, to brace myself for the tough days that lie ahead of me
as the captain of the Australian team.
Most of you might not know
but I was a scholarship holder at the prestigious Australian Cricket
Academy when I was 18. Yes, just 18. As a kid I watched the Waughs and
the Taylors, the Warnes and the Mc Graths play for the Australian team;
rip in to attacks, overpower them, intimidate them and pound them to
dust. I wanted to be like them, they were my heroes. With dreams in my
eyes and my eyes on a dream to bag the baggy green, I worked hard and
kept improving. I kept reminding myself that I was good enough to
represent Australia at the highest level.
I was finally selected
in the national side and made my debut in the most arduous circumstances
that any kid could dream off. It was in India, the hot and sultry
Bangalore to be precise. I hit a sublime 151 and all was going according
to plan for me. We managed to finally breach what the great Steve Waugh
had proclaimed as being ‘The Final Frontier’. We won the series 2-1 and
I feel so very nostalgic remembering those days. The fact that I had
made significant contributions towards making our collective dreams a
possibility makes my memories all the more sweet. After making a century
on debut, I managed to crack a century on my debut test in Australia as
well. A year later I would win the Allan Border Medal and I was well on
my way to stardom now.
What a team we had then!! Hayden, Langer,
Ponting, Martyn, our current coach Lehmann, Hussey, Gilchrist, Warne,
Gillespie, Mc Grath!!! I was just a kid in that team, probably a rising
star in a team of full blown galaxy of superstars! This team won matches
for fun. Most of the times, all we had to do to win was just turn up at
the ground! We could play to 50% of our potential and still win easily.
The opposition did not matter, the umpires did not matter, the pitch,
and the weather were not even an issue for us – we could win against any
team anywhere in the world on most given days. These players were at
the peak of their powers and in their pomp would scare the opposition
even before they entered the playing field.
Then, as age caught
up, these legends started to call it a day. One by one, they began to
walk in to the sunset. In the beginning, we had alternatives. But, then
you can’t find suitable replacements for the above mentioned greats in a
jiffy.
I was made the captain of the team and I had, now, only
the experience of Ponting and Hussey to fall back on. They made my job
so much easy. I personally had a romantic start to my captaincy stint.
In 2012, I became the only man to score 4 double centuries which also
included a triple ton! I could seem to do no wrong. Then Ponting
announced his retirement in December 2012. Hussey announced it a month
later in January 2013. The last of recognized stars of the previous
decade had just faded away.
I was now the superstar in this
Aussie team, a veteran. I was no longer the carefree, wide eyed kid. I
had powers, responsibilities. I decided to take them on manly. We toured
India again, almost 9 years after my famous debut but this time there
were none of those old wily hands upon whom we could fall back on. We
lost 0-4. The tour was marred by the homework-gate as some players were
handed punishment for not filing the team survey. Was I asking too much
of my players if I wanted their assessment of what we were doing wrong
and how we could correct them? I could not tolerate the indifference
shown by some players including the vice captain of the team. Watson
threatened to quit test cricket and flew back to Australia in a huff.
Everything was falling apart now. The rosy picture had eventually begun to make way for a dark and long gloomy night.
Warner
punched Joe Root after a group match against England during the
Champions Trophy, another transgression from him and our Ashes campaign
was well and truly in disorder. We could not even make it to the finals
of the Champions Trophy and a tough Ashes battle loomed ahead. Mickey
Arthur was sacked finally after a string of poor performances under him;
I stepped down from the post of a selector to concentrate on my
batting.
We have already lost the first Ashes test, albeit
narrowly and are staring down the barrel in the second one. I personally
still feel we can win this game, in my heart. My head, though, is
whirring as I try to come to terms with the recent performances of the
current Australian Test Cricket Team.
This is all that I have
time to write today. But I will be back again to share with you my
innermost thoughts, my feelings. I must now get back to the practice
session and brace myself for the tough couple of days that lie ahead.
