By Todd Balym
December 6th 2007 @ 3:52am
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“Pup” gets gig as Australia’s Twenty20 skipper
Michael “Pup” Clarke will be top dog of the Australian cricket side for a day after being officially anointed Ricky Ponting’s heir apparent with the Twenty20 captaincy for next Tuesday’s clash with New Zealand.
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Spiro Zavos said | December 6th 2007 @ 4:22am | Report comment
There are two aspects of the selection of Michael Clarke as the captain of the Australian Twenty20 side.
First, it is an indication that the selectors have a long term succession policy in place for Clarke to replace Ricky Ponting in the future (some four years or so?) as captain of Australia.
Second, the appointment acknowledges that the Twenty20 game is different from one-day cricket and first class cricket. It is a high-speed genre where athleticism and fitness are paramount. Therefore, younger players are to be preferrred in general, although for world championship tournaments someone like Ponting or Adam Gilchrist would be automatic selections.
Twenty20 cricket is going through the same process of criticism/reluctant acceptance/full endorsement as an authentic cricket genre with its own pecularities and selection requirements.
I’m looking forward to Tuesday’s Twenty20 against New Zealand at Perth to see if new tactics have been worked out to the advantage of the clever side.
Stoffy said | December 6th 2007 @ 9:33am | Report comment
Well said Spiro, couldnt agree more. Clarke will take over from Pontig in the future so why not get him prepared for the job now. Pup needs to learn the ins and outs of captaincy so getting him in early for a few lessons will be very helpful to him and the Australian cricket team. As spiro said the twenty20 style game suits a younger captain.
i’ve got the tv booked for Tuesday, looking forward to see how the aussies do under a new leader