While Michael Clarke ended his ODI career with a bang, winning the World Cup, it seems he will finish his Test career with a whimper.
It is a sad way for Australia to wish its captain goodbye, but these days a player’s career doesn’t stop after international retirement.
Twenty20 cricket has continually grown since it crept into various domestic competitions over a decade ago. The three hours of cricketing madness it offers has proved more marketable than anybody could ever have imagined and as a result, the money it offers players is also more than anybody could ever have imagined.
It was Clarke’s retirement from ODIs that allowed him to accept the Melbourne Stars’ offer to captain the side in the next Big Bash, and now with his schedule clear he may well look to dip his toes into other franchises around the globe.
But there is one problem, despite being one of the best batsmen of his generation, Clarke isn’t a great T20 batsmen. Both internationally and domestically Clarke averages just 21, with a strike rate under 110 in both cases.
This is quite obviously not due to a lack of ability, but more a lack of exposure. T20 cricket has never been a priority for Clarke, his last game in the format was in May 2012 – almost two years after his last international T20.
You can’t argue with Clarke’s decision to neglect the games shortest form, injuries meant he had to be more selective than most with the cricket he plays. But now Clarke finds himself in the odd position of having to prove himself all over again.
There is a certain irony to this as Clarke has often been seen as the modern cricketer. When he first became a Test player his high-risk technique had many thinking his game was about style over substance. After being dropped, Clark was forced to alter his game and now with over 8000 Test runs to his name he has certainly proved he has the substance.
Yet without the T20 skills batsmen now grow up developing, Clarke is something of an old-fashioned cricketer. Furthermore, Clarke may be one of the last of his kind.
Money dictates sport. Money was the reason for the growth of one-day cricket – Kerry Packer was able to offer players the salaries they desired and as a result the cricketing world was changed forever.
There is no doubt as to where the money is in cricket today, franchise cricket dominates, therefore players are shaping their game to get a better chance of earning bigger paycheques, understandably so.
Clarke isn’t poor, but the decision to drop T20 from his schedule wasn’t the best option for him financially, and for that reason it is very unlikely that many players will take the same path that Clarke did.
Players today may not even have made the technical changes Clarke did early in his career. Clarke adapted his game to improve his Test prospects, but if anything his earlier technique was more favourable to T20.
While Clarke will no longer represent Australia, his career will still provide fascination. It could well be that the game has moved so quickly during his time as an international player that it has overtaken him.
It is for this reason that it may not be a hyperbole to say we may not see another cricketer like Clarke. He is no longer a symbol of the future but a representation of the past.
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