Clarke targets world cricket domination
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Test and one-day cricket captain Michael Clarke says the limited-overs tour of England and Ireland represents the start of a two-year campaign to make Australia the top-ranked nation in all three forms of the game.
Australia already heads the one-day ratings, but is third in the Test standings and fifth in the T20 format.
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“We’ve been the number one one-day team in the world for a while now but we need to continue to raise the bar,” said Clarke before the ODI squad flew out from Sydney Airport on Thursday.
“I think our cricket of late in the shorter form hasn’t been as consistent as we would like.
“I think once we get on the plane it’s probably the start of a two-year journey for this Australian team, whether it be the one-day team, the Test team or the Twenty20 team, to have a lot of success and get back to being the No.1 in all forms of the game.”
Australia will play two English county teams and a limited overs international against Ireland before facing fourth-ranked England in five one-day internationals.
Clarke said he’d been surprised by England batsman Kevin Pietersen’s recent retirement from ODIs.
“I’m thrilled I don’t have to play against him in one-day cricket because he’s such a good player and he’s had a lot of success and he’s a natural in it,” Clarke said.
“But England have a lot of good players in their team.”
Clarke nominated David Hussey to fill the batting role of innings closer and pacer of run chases in the absence of his brother Michael, who withdrew from the tour for family reasons following the premature birth of his fourth child.
Clarke was also confident the pay dispute between Cricket Australia and the players would be resolved within the next week or two and said the last thing he wanted to do would be to go on strike.
© AAP 2013
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The Crowd Says (4) | Page 1 of Comments
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June 15th 2012 @ 4:03am
ak said | June 15th 2012 @ 4:03am | Report comment
One always has to remain positive. In the press a captain is required to say certain things. However its highly unlikely that any team in the world can remain No. 1 in all three formats. Its not possible with any of the current international cricket teams. At the most it is possible to be No 1 in 2 formats & that too for a brief period
June 15th 2012 @ 2:26pm
Morning Son said | June 15th 2012 @ 2:26pm | Report comment
Kind of feels sad not to have the old veterans in the side.
Time passes, players go. But memories remain.
June 16th 2012 @ 11:37am
k77sujith said | June 16th 2012 @ 11:37am | Report comment
The manner in which Aus dominated cricket in the nineties and early noughties was spell-binding. I don’t even think T20 is something Clarke should be bothered about since it’s not even the real deal. If Aus need to get anywhere close to that level again, it’s the batting they need to sort out. Thanks.
June 19th 2012 @ 7:59pm
Rory said | June 19th 2012 @ 7:59pm | Report comment
Aren’t England number 1 ranked in Test and T20?