Should Michael Clarke be the next Australian Test Cricket Captain?

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Before I begin this, I want to acknowledge that Michael Clarke is a very good player and I like his technique when he is in form. However Clarke is currently out of form and lacking confidence with the bat. Without speaking to the man himself, one can only ponder the reasons why the form and confidence have dropped so dramatically. Do we put it down to the break up with Lara Bingle, or is it part of the normal form slump that most cricketers can have. Who knows ?

Perhaps we need to look at Clarke’s record pre and post the Lara Bingle break up to see if that could be a factor. The www.news.com.au website has an article dated March 13, 2010 which refers to the couple having not spoken since Tuesday. March 13 was a Saturday, so that makes Tuesday March 9^th. So I’ll take my statistics from there, and I would like to thank the www.cricinfo.com website for providing the data.

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Avg	100	50	4s	6s	Ct
Pre Lara Bingle Split	58	94	12	4116	166	50.20	13	17	441	17	56
Post Lara Bingle Split	11	20	0	626	168	31.30	1	3	81	2	13
Vs NZ in NZ	2	3	0	259	168	86.33	1	1	37	2	3
Post Lara excl NZ Tour	9	17	0	367	80	21.59	0	2	44	0	10

As you can see since the split with Lara Bingle, Clarke’s average has dropped by about 19 runs overall. Now the interesting part comes if you exclude the NZ tour statistics. The reason I have completed this analysis is that the break-up occurred at the time the Australian Team was in New Zealand. This was done to see if the break up had an immediate effect on Clarke’s performance, which given the row “vs NZ in NZ” most people would say that it had a positive effect.

This is clearly an aberration which could just be put down to Clarke reacting to the situation. If you consider the post Lara Bingle split averages and exclude the NZ tour as the row “Post Lara excl NZ tour” shows. The average drops to just 21.59 from 17 innings with 2 fifties and a highest score of 80 in that time. As much as Clarke would hate to admit it, these stats would indicate that this dramatic event in his life has had a fair impact on his batting form.

With these stats most people (including me) would suggest that Michael Clarke should not be in the test side, let alone be the next Test Captain. Personally, I would much rather see him return to the Sheffield Shield to regain form and confidence but most of all spend the time getting his head right. This is not a bad thing and players of Clarke’s calibre will find the missing pieces to the puzzle and work on earning their spot in the Australian side.

As for the Captaincy, given the high profile of the position in Australia, I tend to agree with Darren Berry’s article in the Age recently where he suggested that the Captaincy should be rotated amongst various aspirants to determine if they can perform under pressure. This would provide the best opportunity to pick the right person for this important position. However it must be on the proviso that the person can make the side based on form.

Cheers,