Clarke ready to ‘train his backside off’ in quest to find form
January 29th, 2011 - 3:41 pm ICT by ANIBrisbane, Jan 29(ANI): Stand-in Australian captain Michael Clarke has said that he is confident of bouncing back to his best ahead of the upcoming World Cup.
“Honestly I am definitely sick of talking about it (his form) and a lot of people are sick of reading about it,” the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Clarke, as saying.
“My performances haven’t been anywhere near good enough as they have needed to be.”
“For me the only way to find those answers is to train my backside off - I have the confidence that I can turn it around,” he added.
The 29-year-old also revealed that he had asked Cricket Australia (CA) if he could bat for his Western Suburbs club in their weekend grade clash ahead of Sunday’s fifth ODI against England in Brisbane.
“I said I was keen to go back to Sydney and have a hit there (in grade cricket), but they (CA) thought it was better preparation to be with the team which I agree with,” Clarke said.
“But any opportunity to play cricket (ahead of next month’s World Cup) now I will be grabbing with both hands. I am confident that I can turn this run around. But if a game does turn up for NSW or my grade club and it fits in with the team then I will certainly be playing,” he added.
Clarke averaged 34.7 in the winter Test series against Pakistan, 8.75 across two Tests in the following Border-Gavaskar Trophy in India, and then 21.5 in the five-Test Ashes series against England this summer.
The 29-year-old has made only 70 runs at an average of 17.50 in four ODIs of the ongoing seven-match series against England. (ANI)
- Clarke desperate to play grade cricket to overcome form slump - Jan 30, 2011
- Botham warns critics 'quality player' Clarke will soon be over his 'rough patch' - Jan 28, 2011
- Clarke thinks of playing in grade cricket - Oct 05, 2011
- Clarke has till end of World Cup to regain form: Greg Chappell - Jan 25, 2011
- Johnson to use flood spirit as motivation for Brisbane ODI comeback - Jan 28, 2011
- Cummins may also miss ODI series: NSW chief - Jan 09, 2012
- Taylor's 'chat' steered Clarke back into form - Feb 03, 2011
- Hip injury to Steven Smith sours Australia's record chase - Feb 03, 2011
- Clarke to miss ODI against Sri Lanka - Feb 13, 2012
- Ponting quits as captain, wants Clarke to succeed him - Mar 29, 2011
- Clarke will also turn out to be champion leader: Rixon - Aug 20, 2011
- 'Have enough games to stake claim for Ashes berth,' says Haddin - Oct 01, 2010
- CA divided over Ponting as captain after World Cup - Mar 22, 2011
- India to play extra warm-up game in Australia - Oct 05, 2011
- 'England team to take on Ashes challenge together' says Prior - Oct 25, 2010
Tags: australian captain, backside, border gavaskar trophy, brisbane, captain michael, clash, confidence, cricket australia, fifth odi, grade cricket, jan 29, match, michael clarke, morning herald, odis, sydney morning herald, test series, western suburbs, winter test, world cup