Former Australian captain, Michael Clarke has confirmed that he will be making a comeback to cricket, and also mentioned that he would not say ‘never say never’ to international cricket.
After having bid adieu to international cricket after losing the Ashes in England, Clarke seems to have changed his mind about retirement and will be looking to work his way back into the national side sometime in the future.
Clarke will be playing for his New South Wales grade cricket club Western Suburbs in a match against Randwick-Petersham starting on February 20. It is the same day that Australia will take on New Zealand in the second Test.
In his last Test series, Clarke was able to score only 132 runs at an average of 16.5. Clarke had earlier retired from international limited-overs cricket after leading Australia to their fifth World Cup title.
Clarke is looking forward to renewing his playing career as he has made himself available for the Indian Premier League (IPL) as well as the next edition of the Big Bash League (BBL).
“To step away from cricket for four months has been great, I have found my body has enjoyed it and my mind has really enjoyed it too. At the same time I’ve realised the game of cricket is in my blood. I’ve been looking for an outlet to replace what I’ve chosen to walk away from.
“So I’ll start with playing this grade game for Western Suburbs and see if I miss it as much as I feel like I’m going to. If I do, the option is there to train the entire winter and then we’ll see what happens,” Clarke said.
Clarke had signed up to play for the Melbourne Stars in the recently concluded edition of the BBL, but pulled out due to personal reasons. He hopes to use the experience playing with the Western Suburbs to maybe help him make a comeback to international cricket.
“When David Thompson, one of the Western Suburbs board members, phoned me and asked if I’d like to be part of the Pratten Park match, it got me thinking. It doesn’t matter what level you’re playing or who you’re playing for, I recognised that I missed the game.
“All I know is, I’ll never say never to anything. I’ll start with Western Suburbs and we will see where it takes me. For now, my focus is definitely the shorter format of the game,” the former captain said.
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