Clarke had broken shoulder in Cape Town

Allow me to but in. Albatros you have said - so eloquently - what I am unable. I remember the incident with Anderson, and if I remember correctly Clark reminded him that if he was going to mouth off, then he should 'present arms', and prepare to cop it. A lot of good things came out of that incident. Quite the pivotal moment.

Ah yes.. the world of commerce. Where morality, integrity and legality are traits exercised and prized above all else, so much so they are like phantom traits. A perfect place from which to borrow a phrase about sportsmanlike behavior! Hardly. And to be honest, I have a sneaking suspicion that your response to the threats of the opposing captain would be something along the lines of 'Please don't hurt me, or else Karma will come back and bite you on the ass'. Your opinions on competition and sport are valuable and entertaining to say the least. Mine take a different tack but are equally as valid. Sledging is a part of life. And life would be much poorer without sport in it. I say, let the competition run freely and the blood flow. Provided of course that the rules are followed. And Clarke certainly broke no rules, just the ego and will of his opponent. Like a good general.

MMC2, Physical violence is your response to sledging? what an absurd and immature notion.

That's ridiculous. When Ricky took over in 2004 his batting for the next four years was peerless. He may not have been an imaginative captain and he played on too long, but he was as tough as they come and scored plenty of vital runs and centuries as captain. I was not a big fan of him as captain, but I get the feeling time will be more kind on Ricky's tenure and his legendary batting will probably grow in esteem also. He just happens to have presided over our fall and was replaced by a guy who is naturally talented as a captain (something S Waugh wasn't either, but it didn't matter leading that team and with his batting).

To Albatross. Thanks for your comments. The point I would like to highlight here turns on the meaning of sport. To borrow a phrase from the world of commerce - there are a lot of men in sport, but not a lot of sportsmen. Once illegal or immoral tactics are employed then in my mind the endeavour has ceased to be sport. It may still be popular, competitive, well done, professional, but to my definition it is no longer sport. As an example, in football I might perform a hard tackle on an opponent and either or both of us might get hurt. That is part of the game. But if I use the tackle as an excuse to take his head off then that is not sport. I would like to see more emphasis on sport and sportsmanship. That doesn't mean it has to be soft. On the other hand if the endeavour is to be hard competition, forgetting sport altogether, then I don't see why sledgers should be protected from the same type of physical response that they would get in the street. Clarke was responding to Andersen who was responding to Bailey who should have kept his trap shut and shown respect to the batsman. I am sure that you could imagine my response if I were playing Rugby and an opposing captain threatened to have one of his front rowers hurt me. Yes it would be very physical and instantaneous. I say stop sledging or else let the responses run free.

MMC2, you still have missed the point. Clarke was reacting to "bullying", your word not mine, and wouldn't we all like to stare down a bully and in fact make him a little fearful in turn. Clarke turned the tables on Anderson and England at that point and the microphone was not supposed to be on. I think we often want too much information and this was an example of information that we weren't entitled to and didn't need.

@mmc2.. 1) I merely pointed out to you the accuracy of sentiment in the comments herein, take that as you will. 2) Sportsmen and women suffer broken bones all the time, and across a vast array of sports. If you are suggesting that this is due to karma catching up with them, I will express my opinion and suggest to you that that's patently ridiculous. Almost entirely they would result from sportsfolk pushing physical boundaries, not metaphysical ones. 3) I was not responding to silvers comment. I was responding to yours. Now, if you're asking if I agree with Silver, I don't. I would have thought Clarke to be a little more discerning than that, and vanity may play it's part there. As for your assertions re: competitive sport.. I have to wholeheartedly disagree with you there. Top level competitive sportsfolk will do everything in their power to gain an advantage over their opponents.. sometimes (and sadly often) employing illegal or immoral tactics or even substances to do so. However, if you don't believe that competitors purposefully try to cause harm or humiliation to their opposites in some way, then I'm of the opinion your insight doesn't stretch as far as to understand the mental workings of a competitor. A top level competitor is trained not to take the foot off the throat, quite the opposite.

'Mental ascendancy' what a euphemism for bullying. I don't think you can take the threat of a broken arm too literally when Fast bowlers are sending down short pitched deliveries at close to 100 mph, combined with the bullying attitude and words spoken. Why would you want to protect the bullies by turning the microphone off. If it is good enough to be said then it is good enough to be heard and in my opinion good enough to be reacted to in the same way that it would in football or on the street. .

Yeah Chris, it's ridiculous. Someone called up to ABC the other Saturday and had a go at Michael Clarke (much along the lines of MMC2 above) and Kim Hughes tore them a new one haha!

I think you have missed the point. Clarke's comment to Jimmy Anderson was in response to what Anderson said to Bailey. If you looked at Anderson's lips they hardly stop moving. This was a duel between Anderson and Clarke to gain mental ascendancy over the other, England had gained mental ascendancy over Australia in the previous Ashes series in England and the belief by many observers was that the ascendancy changed with that comment. Unfortunately the stump microphone had been incorrectly left on, I don't think we need to know everything said in the heat of the battle on the cricket field and I am sure you have taken the threat of a broken arm too literally. I have never liked sledging but everyone now seems to do it.

1 The number of people in favour of an opinion has little bearing on the accuracy of it. That is what prejudice is. 2 You didn't really deal with the reference to Karma. 3 Do you really accept what Silver Sovereign said about ending an opposition player's career and humiliating opposition teams. There is nothing wrong with playing hard and yes you do expect to get bruised and battered. And I do applaud Michael Clarke for batting on when badly injured and not complaining. BUT, the difference between competitive SPORT and just competitive endeavour is that you play the ball not the person. Bones will undoubtedly get broken, but the sportsman does not deliberately try to break bones or even threaten to get one of the other players to do so. You must admit it is interesting that Clarke made the threat and yet Clarke got the broken bone. Very few top level sportsmen of any sport would take pleasure in ending the career of an opponent or humiliating anyone.

+1 exactly, Wasim. The Pup bites as well as he barks, walks as wella s he talks.

Seems only to be you complaining here mmc2. Pretty much everyone else has expressed how Clarke has gone up in their estimations. Karma is the sookie sookie stuff that spectators think is clever to banter on about. True competitors on the other hand, expect to be battered and bruised in combat. They invite it. They deal with it, they don't complain about it. They leave the whining to the bleeding hearts of social media.

Agreed! Clarke has just done so much for Australian cricket, carried the team almost single-handedly at points, and all this while genuinely seeming to be quite a nice guy. But there are some people around who just refuse to give him any respect. I've seen so many comments even in the last 6 months on this site with people referring to him as Mr Bingle, despite the fact that he broke up with her many years ago and is now happily married to someone nobody would consider describing as the Australian Kim Kardashian! That and the fact that some other player with a serious temper once grabbed Clarke by the throat, and apparently, despite being the victim of that attack it's always counted against Clarke rather than that certain other player in many peoples minds.

I don't know about that. Many people have made the exact same comment about Clarke, "rarely scoring runs when the team is under pressure". In most cases if you went back through their history you'd find numerous times when they stood up and played an innings that just carried the team when they were in trouble and such a claim turns out to be reasonably baseless. Ricky was not the sort of imaginative captain Clarke is, few are, but Ricky's big problem as captain I believe was simply that at the time that so many of the other greats in the team were retiring, he was also getting towards the end of his career and reaching a period where he was struggling to get the runs himself that he would have liked. Remember that prior to that he lead a phenomenal Australian team to a phenomenal record, including matching the feat of the Steve Waugh led team a few years earlier of 16 consecutive test wins.

Unfortunately, you and so many others seem to have no understanding of either what sport is or the good that it can do for individuals and for us all in general. Think about what you have written.It is insanity, misguided intense emotional crap, certainly not sport.

I think that epitomises the where Ricky Ponting struggled as Australian Captain. Ponting for all his brilliance and his average, rarely scored runs when his team was under pressure, unlike previous captains such as AB, Steve Waugh and Tubby. Clarke has proven that he is not only a good captain on and off the field, but he also knows how to dig deep when his team is under pressure. For me, this is a critical element needed in the character for the Australian captain.

I think Clarke would take all his limbs being broken if it meant ending opposition players' careers and humiliating supposedy good teams like the Poms and Afrikanners.

Poetic justice. Threatening an opponent with getting a broken arm was really off. When that threat was to be delivered by someone else, ie Mitchell Johnson, well that was girlie girlie sookie stuff. Now Clarke has been on the receiving end of precisely his own threat, how interesting. Sometimes Karma requires you to know both sides of a situation.

How could anybody not be a massive fan of this bloke. True Australian hero. I am so proud to have this man captain our great country's test team.