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The world’s best batsman is arguably in the worst form of his career at the present time. But you wouldn’t know it.
Michael Clarke has now gone nine innings without posting a score of higher than 25, a feat he has never achieved.
So even is the contribution from the other batsmen that Clarke’s batting form slump has gone virtually unnoticed.
The weight of the team has lifted off Clarke’s shoulders and dodgy back and allowed him to focus more of being the aggressive and initiative captain that he can be.
Players like Steve Smith and David Warner are now lifting to the standards that had been expected of them because of their sheer talent and cricketing ability.
Add a rejuvenated, reborn Brad Haddin in the best form of his life and the somewhat inconsistent run-scoring machine Chris Rogers, and the batting line-up looks like a case of if one doesn’t get you the other one will.
There still are two spots in the batting line-up to cement but recalled Shaun Marsh and debutant Alex Doolan look like filling it. But they’ve only played one Test match; time will tell whether they can sustain themselves in the team.
Had Clarke been in this form twelve months ago, the team would have been in an even more disastrous position that it was after the homework gate saga.
The team was crying out for another batsman to try and support the Michael Clarke but player after player would seem to walk up and fail.
The top order was failing so badly that Clarke had to ditch his beloved and comfortable batting position of number five and go on a rescue mission to bat higher. He tried to bat at number three but had failed.
But batting at four seemed to work for both parties, as he could score runs at the moderately successful rate and stop the flow of a batting collapse.
So big was the burden of carrying the team that six months ago when Australia played England on their home turf there was only one chance for victory.
The only way that they were going to stand a chance was if their superstar captain, Michael Clarke, made an extraordinary amount of runs to guide his team home.
He didn’t. The team from the outside looked in disarray. Every man and his dog were attacking Michael Clarke and his team, labelling them as the ‘worst Australian Cricket team ever’.
How times have changed.
In five Tests, Australia demolished one of the greatest English teams in modern times. Michael Clarke performed admirably but was far from his best as he let others stand up and take the responsibility of rescuing the team.
Now, Australia has thrashed the number one Test team in the world.
Clarke did not play so well with scores of 23 and 17* as he felt the weight lift off with the help of all the other players contributing admirably.
With the team performing so well and the top-order looking more settled and less vulnerable, Clarke has got the luxury of dropping himself back to his favourite position of batting at number five.
But let’s not write him off.
After all he is a champion of the modern game and one thing that is a certainty about champion players is they always bounce back.
South Africa, look out, Michael Clarke is coming for you in Port Elizabeth.
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