New Delhi: Former skipper Michael Clarke has been inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame, becoming the 64th player to be included in the prestigious list.
He was inducted in a ceremony held at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Wednesday, who captained Australia to 2015 ODI World Cup win at home and skippered them to a 5-0 series victory in the 2013-2014 Ashes series.
“Over 8600 Test runs, 28 hundreds and the only cricketer to hit a Test triple-century on the SCG. Congratulations to former Australian captain Michael Clarke AO on his induction to the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame,” Cricket Australia wrote on social media platform X.
The 34-year-old scored aggregated 8643 runs in Tests and 7981 in ODIs, at an average of 49.10 and 44.58 respectively in a 12-year career, in which he scored 28 hundreds in red-ball cricket, including a memorable 329 against India at his home ground of the SCG.
Fourteen of those Test centuries (seven each) were against England and India, against whom he featured on 35 and 22 matches respectively, averaging over 56 against both the teams.
‘Honoured’
“To be able to sit along so many wonderful players, idols, role models growing up as a kid and looking up to is something I’m honoured by,” the 43-year-old said during the induction programme at the SCG.
Clarke announced his retirement in 2015 after Australia’s Ashes series against England and was lauded for the manner he led the team after his best friend Phil Hughes died in 2014 after being hit on the head while playing a domestic match, shocking Australian cricket.
“Retirement does a lot of things to you. Through stages of watching cricket now, you miss parts. When you play at the highest level, people talk about your international career but for me, it started at six years of age. I retired at 34 so it was my life. It’s still a part of my life.
“Cricket – it’s probably so similar to life in general. You walk out and make 100 and then lift the bat, and then you walk out to field, field in slip and drop a catch second ball of the game,” he reflected on Wednesday.
Michael Clarke captained Australia to 2015 ODI World Cup win at home and skippered them to a 5-0 series victory in the 2013-14 Ashes series. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
