A year can be a long time in sport. That is something Michael Clarke is finding out only too well.
Twelve months ago, Clarke was a hero as he captained Australia to an Ashes series whitewash over England on home soil.
Yesterday he had to take time out of his recovery programme in his bid to be fit for the World Cup to deny a report published last week in The Sydney Morning Herald that he had fallen out with Cricket Australia management.
The alleged row was over how much time Clarke, 33, had been given to prove his fitness following hamstring surgery ahead of the World Cup, which starts in two weeks.
The report said that some of Australia’s players did not want Clarke to return as captain.
Surprising allegations given the success of the axis of Clarke as captain and Darren Lehmann as coach, which transformed a team that was struggling in early June 2013 and led them to the top spot of the Test rankings within a year.
But nothing lasts forever and Australia demonstrated that there is life without Clarke by winning their four-match Test series with India 2-0 after he had gone down injured in the first Test in Adelaide.
His stand-in, Steven Smith, captained well – perhaps a bit too cautiously at times – and, most importantly, led by example with the bat to average 128.16 after scoring 769 runs in eight innings.
That there is a ready made replacement in that format lends plausibility to the rumours.
When there was high speculation England may dump Alastair Cook as Test captain last summer arguably the thing that saved him, as much as anything, was the lack of viable replacements.
Smith can do the job and George Bailey, who has stood in for Clarke as one-day skipper in the tri-series, could easily lead Australia in the World Cup this month if Clarke does not make it. The issue is whether Clarke being in Australia’s team strengthens them or not.
If his body holds up, there is no doubt he does.
Clarke is still one of the best batsmen in the world and having him in the middle order alongside Smith, Bailey, Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Marsh would only strengthen the team’s prospects of a fourth World Cup in five tournaments.
The event starts on February 14, but it runs until March 29 and, even if Clarke is not fully fit for England in Melbourne in their Group A opener, Australia have more than enough depth available in their 15-man squad to get through without him.
Clarke may or may not be popular in the Australia dressing room, but he is an excellent batsman and one of the most thoughtful and creative captains cricket has had in some time.
His ailing body, with continued back problems, means his career is likely to end sooner rather than later, but with the World Cup and then a bid to win an Ashes series in England for the first time since 2001 ahead of them, Australia are still a stronger team with Clarke in it.
gcaygill@thenational.ae
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