The darker side of Michael Clarke
Roar Guru By Rickety Knees, 14 Mar 2013 Rickety Knees is a Roar Guru
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- Australian Cricket, Cricket, Michael Clarke, Mickey Arthur, suspension
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Australia's captain Michael Clarke throws a ball during a cricket practice match between Australia and Sri Lanka Board XI in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, Aug. 25, 2011. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)
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It is important to acknowledge that Michael Clarke has averaged better than 70 per Test innings since taking over the Australian captaincy.
Clearly his batting has evolved since he was given this esteemed role.
But does an individual with individual gifts honed to excellence automatically make a good leader?
Not necessarily.
As a leader it is important to avoid hypocrisy.
For example a younger Michael Clarke placed Lara Bingle above a team function (and rightfully incurred the ire of Simon Katich) and an older Michael Clarke suspended his players for not complying with another team function.
Leading people is not easy. Inspirational leadership can inspire people to die for their country. In the case of the military, Victoria Crosses are won by those prepared to sacrifice their lives for others.
Conversely autocratic, fear-based leadership results in people doing the minimum to get by, and in some cases to rebel.
In taking the extreme decision to suspend a player from playing for his country for failure to fill out a team evaluation form, Clarke has introduced fear as his major management tool.
The question needs to be asked whether this would have happened had Clarke not also been a selector.
Clarke has also displayed a level of vindictiveness in Simon Katich’s exclusion from the side, when he was one of the top five batsmen in the world, a position which has not been adequately filled since.
After suffering a most humiliating recent defeat in India, a clear benefit for the selectors is that by suspending players has been to deflect any criticism for team selection and game strategy away from them and onto the players.
Clarke needs to ask himself what he wants from his players, and in doing so how is he going to inspire them to do so.
Respected for aeons as a great cricket nation, Australia has now become the laughing stock of the cricketing world.
It is going to be a long way back from here for Michael Clarke and Australian cricket.
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- Australian Cricket, Cricket, Michael Clarke, Mickey Arthur, suspension
March 14th 2013 @ 6:37am
Sal said | March 14th 2013 @ 6:37am | Report comment
In all fairness, Clarke’s overreaction is largely due to the fact that he’s a new captain who hadn’t tasted brutal failure until now with no light of success at the end of the tunnel on this tour. I think this mishap can be a learning experience that can allow him to overcome and flourish into a strong leader. However, the window of opportunity to reflect is short, given the pace of scheduled games these days.
How he redeems himself in the next few weeks will determine the path for success/failure of the Australian cricket team.
March 14th 2013 @ 10:02pm
Deep Thinker said | March 14th 2013 @ 10:02pm | Report comment
I don’t think it is in the spirit of this forum to defend Michael Clarke.
He is not a new captain. Anyway, he is not new to the leadership group. He was also vice-captain for a number of years under Ponting and was groomed for the position the moment he joined the test team.
Anyway, Mickey Arthur is not new to coaching and should have counselled him against such extreme, unjustified, bullying, morale-sapping, behaviour. He is a power-hungry dictator who needs to be reigned in.
Plain and simple.
March 14th 2013 @ 8:27am
Xiedazhou said | March 14th 2013 @ 8:27am | Report comment
The self centred and vindictive side of Clarke was first exposed to the public when he had Symonds thrown off the one day side for missing a minor (rescheduled) team meeting in the days before an exhibition match in Darwin. There have been other dressing room clashes with team mates (Martyn) and opponents. There is no doubt he repeatedly put his relationship with Bingle before the Australian team. There was not just the Katich incident. He left two test tours (WI and NZ) for personal reasons related to his girlfriend (she was not his wife). Clarke apparently also failed to give Hussey the final night with the team that that legend wanted and deserved, and then also had a role in Hussey’s non selection for the ODI team following his Test retirement.
As for the latest incident, Clark has shown that he does not understand the basic tenets of discipline. He, and Arthur have reacted with frustration and anger and meted out unprecedented and excessive punishment. In doing so they unjustly treated repeat offenders and first time offenders equally. Reactionary discipline, meted out arbitarily, and following obvious laxness and failure to address the issues when and where they arose is exceedingly poor management. This is not an example of strength in leadership, it is a clarion example of weakness and failure of leadership.
March 14th 2013 @ 11:18am
Rellum said | March 14th 2013 @ 11:18am | Report comment
If anyone is putting the Australian Cricket team ahead of their family then they need help.
March 15th 2013 @ 2:34pm
Haz said | March 15th 2013 @ 2:34pm | Report comment
Agreed.
My respect for Michael Clarke went up for putting family first. There are *gasp! horror!* more important things than cricket.
And no, he wasn’t married to Lara Bingle, but it was a pretty long-term relationship by that point.
March 15th 2013 @ 11:06pm
WoobliesFan said | March 15th 2013 @ 11:06pm | Report comment
She was dying was she?
On her deathbed?…….little princess had a drama fit….nothing more, nothing less……disgrace that he left the team for that.
March 14th 2013 @ 5:10pm
Sandy said | March 14th 2013 @ 5:10pm | Report comment
My thoughts exactly Xiedazhou.
March 16th 2013 @ 1:51pm
Rickety Knees said | March 16th 2013 @ 1:51pm | Report comment
Me too
March 18th 2013 @ 9:36am
snowygeorge said | March 18th 2013 @ 9:36am | Report comment
My dear Xiexdazhou I,m with you %100 Clarke is a very good player but have no idea what captain mean.
March 14th 2013 @ 9:22am
sheek said | March 14th 2013 @ 9:22am | Report comment
Gee Rickety,
This is an excellent piece. I hadn’t thought this through quite as well as you have.
But you have highlighted Clarke’s recent past quite well. “Do as I say, not as I do” leaders turn out to be quite the worst kind of leaders eventually.
A lot of today’s ultra-sensitive generation can’t abide Ian Chappell’s philosophy of ‘tough love.’ But from seeing him in the 70s & numerous articles I’ve read since, his team mates from the 70s would follow him over a cliff. This is because Chappelli led from the front, & went in to bat for the team’s welfare against management.
He not only talked the talk, but walked the walk, & his team mates lionize him for it.
Contrast this with Clarke, who’s been happy to appear on TV & highlight his team mates’ flaws in public.
George Bernard Shaw humorously opined, “I can cope with adversity….. (pause)….. another man’s, I mean.”
It now seems Clarke is all talk about sacrifice, as long as he isn’t the one required to do it.
March 14th 2013 @ 9:42am
Rickety Knees said | March 14th 2013 @ 9:42am | Report comment
Cheers Sheek – a Zen Master once said “you will hear many words in your life and not remember one, but you will never forget how somebody made you feel”. How the players now feel under Clarke’s leadership is a moot point. Clarke, as selector, has been placed above the team and is behaving accordingly.
It will be interesting to see if he now moves to 3 in the batting order, which IMHO would be the right move. However, the future of the team is dependent on Clarke actually seeing himself as part of the team and therefore also accountable for them on all levels as their captain and leader – adhering to the time honoured law of “what goes on tour – stays on tour”.
March 14th 2013 @ 11:12am
Reccymech said | March 14th 2013 @ 11:12am | Report comment
Are some of us remembering those halcyon days of Australian cricket – ala 60′s/70′s/purple patch 80′s (brutalised by the WI)/90′s? I replied in another piece that I reckon what we’re seeing is Gen Y in all it’s glory, and that the universe does centre around ‘me’.
Drawing a longbow, but, maybe the Baggy Green doesn’t hold it’s prestige in a modern world where money abounds for those who seek fame & fortune.
March 14th 2013 @ 11:46am
Johnno said | March 14th 2013 @ 11:46am | Report comment
The thing that annoys me, is the power Clarke wields. A good batsman aside, but wow he gets alots of credit points.
The fact that he is able to be this divisive, and Cricket Australia seem to just let Clarke run the show is appaling, and he enjoys the ride.
Other examples of star player’s thinking there above the team.
Brian Lara was a selfish captain. who also like Clarke could be demanding and petulant, and fell out of favor with senior players, Carl Hooper and Courtney Walsh. This was when Brian Lara was at the peak of his cricketing powers, and the west indies were struggling, and needed Brian Lara, Big time far more than what Australia needs Micheal Clarke now , I would argue, as they had even less depth.
Kevin Peterson was also a petualant captain who thought he was bigger than the team, and he was behind the dismissal of coach Peter Moores.
Micheal Clarke, is selfish,divisive, and has a my way or the highway attitude it seems.
And is like these 2 other stars.
I accept in pro sport , not every one get’s along, and clearly Mick Clarke and Shane Watson respect each other but don’t like each other, there is a difference.
But it shouldn’t come to the point, where it’s “either me or him attitude” which Micheal Clarke is displaying here, and he showed that with Katich, and now it seems Shane Watson.
On Andrew Symonds, Ricky Ponting was the captain, and I don’t blame Clarke there. Ponting and Symonds, were close , and Symonds let the whole team down many times, and was given many chances, and Symonds also it seems thought he was bigger than the team.
But the treatment of both Katich , and Watto is disgraceful, and I still can’t believe cricket Australia let Micheal Clarke wield so much power.
Shane Warne was dropped by steve waugh once for the deciding 1999 west indies test in favour of Stuart Mcgill. He didn’t like it was very upset, steve waugh stood firm. But Shane Warne came back steve waugh, was open about the reasons, simply form and that was it, both got on with it , they weren’t best mates, but they were not petulant, like both Micheal Clarke and I believe shane watson are behaving, and more it seems Mick Clarke.
Cricket Australia, just as what west indies cricket board did with Lara, and England cricket board did with Kevin Peterson, need to reign in Micheal Clarke , he is getting too big for his own boots.
And when you make it clear he is not bigger than the team, and you don’t need him, it;s amazing how humbling these stars become.
Brian Lara and Keven Peterson a case in point. They both shut up, and just got on with it.
CA need to do the same to Micheal Clarke, I should mention a 32-yr old Micheal Clarke, not a 25 year old, so he only has mayb 3 or 4 years left, in the bigger picture.
March 17th 2013 @ 9:41pm
Clavers said | March 17th 2013 @ 9:41pm | Report comment
I don’t care what you say but …
BRING BACK ROY!!!
He would have torn the Indian spinners to pieces (and bowled at least as well as ours have).
March 14th 2013 @ 11:47am
Andy_Roo said | March 14th 2013 @ 11:47am | Report comment
I’m not sure that Clarke is saying ‘do as I say, not do as I do’. Perhaps he has changed his attitude in recent years and come to realise that leading by example is the right way to go. We all get wiser as we get older.
And suggesting that the punishment over ‘homework-gate’ is all coming from Michael Clarke is wrong. The punishment comes from the team management, of which Michael Clarke is one member.
March 14th 2013 @ 9:21pm
Deep Thinker said | March 14th 2013 @ 9:21pm | Report comment
I am glad Michael Clarke is not the leader of a political party. He is a vicious dictator – leaving a trail of destruction for his country – just like Stalin or Kim Jong il.
He should be dropped and never allowed back in the team. I would rather see Australia lose without Michael Clarke than win with him.
He is un-Australian and a disgrace to this nation.
March 15th 2013 @ 2:39pm
Haz said | March 15th 2013 @ 2:39pm | Report comment
Whoah. Has it become flavour of the month to compare people we don’t like to some of the most murderous dictators of the 20th century?
Michael Clarke (and Stephen Conroy for that matter) is not the devil, and he’s hardly solely responsible for the present demise of the Australian Cricket team. If he had three future hall-of-famers playing on his team and was captain of the number 1 test side in the world, then we’d all think he was the bees knees, irrespective of his leadership ability (or lack thereof).
March 15th 2013 @ 8:05pm
Deep Thinker said | March 15th 2013 @ 8:05pm | Report comment
I don’t make these comparisons lightly – but in this case, it cannot be avoided.
Just like murderous dictators, Michael Clarke dispenses with people he doesn’t like or feels threatened by.
As a captain/selector, he wields enormous power, and has been corrupted by this power. He has abused this power, and surrounded himself with yes men.
His tools of the trade are fear and reprisal.
He is quick to clamp down on dissent – back chat is met with instant suspension, or worse, expulsion.
He treats the Australian cricket training sessions like his own personal gulag.
This man is a threat to the very fabric of Australian cricket.
March 15th 2013 @ 11:10pm
WoobliesFan said | March 15th 2013 @ 11:10pm | Report comment
He has abused his power.
We’re ruing the day we made this guy Captain….worse decision ever.
March 16th 2013 @ 8:44am
Moods said | March 16th 2013 @ 8:44am | Report comment
Now this is what is called an over reaction! It was a decision made to exclude 3 blokes from being selected – 2 were dropped, 2 weren’t. It’s ONE test match. Considering some of these guys (Watson included) would have made themselves unavailable if a Test series fell within the untouchable confines of a IPL season and prevent them from earning $3 million + I’m not sure the hyperbole about how devastated they are actually holds. Patterson seems genuinely upset (Haven’t heard from Johnson or K) whilst Watsons behaviour, although conveniently given an out with his pregnant wife, verged on petulant. What a sook.
March 16th 2013 @ 3:32pm
Deep Thinker said | March 16th 2013 @ 3:32pm | Report comment
The only over reaction was to drop the 4 players in the first place!
I’ve seen enough of Clarke’s vindictive streak – it has to stop.
March 18th 2013 @ 1:36pm
mushi said | March 18th 2013 @ 1:36pm | Report comment
Um I don’t think you can get a more lightly taken comparison than casting a captain who you believe to have unfairly suspended players and tyrants who killed and imprisoned dissenters and have become synonymous with the notion of evil.
You know what is wrong with Australian cricket – the supporters. If we’ve gotten to the point that after giving deep consideration to both situations that we still consider Clarke’s actions the equivalent of Stalin’s Russia or North Korea then we have gone insane and lack any perspective.
Hating Michael Clarke is a national past time right and one the roar cashes in on almost as much as the typical code war piece.
March 15th 2013 @ 9:53am
Matthew Skellett said | March 15th 2013 @ 9:53am | Report comment
Well you might find Abbott a vicious dictator if he is allowed to get his hands on power DT-as far as the Australian Cricket Team goes Mr Clarke is holding it up and together it would seem -however this present crisis should never had been allowed to get this far . At the present time if Clarke wasn’t there it would be a complete shambles but also he has made his own nest and he knows he has to lie in it for better and for worse -history will judge him harshly if he doesn’t rise to the challenge but I for one can’t forget his first triple century moment when he had the whole stadium in thrall -that was worth a decade of lean years -Australia’s rise will not be that long away -it’s too close to the australian psyche and heart not to be so
March 15th 2013 @ 2:14pm
Deep Thinker said | March 15th 2013 @ 2:14pm | Report comment
I get the thrust of your argument – yeah, he is a power hungry dictator, but at least he can bat!
Not sure about where Australia’s rise is coming from. Pace and all-rounder stocks – exceptional. Keepers- good. Spin – Agar, O’keefe and possibly Lyon – good. Not sure where the next elite batsman is coming from – and there lies the problem.
For me, if I was an up and coming batsman, I would focus on T20 and cash in – I wouldn’t want to play under a dictator like Michael Clarke.
March 17th 2013 @ 9:46pm
Clavers said | March 17th 2013 @ 9:46pm | Report comment
How did that comment on Abbott get through the moderators?
This is a cricket forum not a party political website.
March 17th 2013 @ 9:05pm
w ch said | March 17th 2013 @ 9:05pm | Report comment
A good example was Ian Botham. The best player in England in 1980, he was made captain and did dreadfully. Axed after the first two tests of the 1981 Ashes, and replaced by Mike Brearley who was a leader of men but only an average batsmen. Botham relieved of the pressures of captaincy went on to slay the Aussies and Brearley led his side to retain The Ashes in a historic series.
March 17th 2013 @ 9:50pm
Clavers said | March 17th 2013 @ 9:50pm | Report comment
I’ve heard Botham in his own defence point out that the team he led lost only 2-0 to the West Indies, not 4-0 or 5-0 as was usual in those days.