Clarke is hoping his team can pick up the ultimate award of topping the rankings across all three formats
While the Allan Border Medal presentation ceremony may for the most part be all about glitz and glamour, Australia captain Michael Clarke took the night as an opportunity to expose a painful truth upon receiving his fourth Allan Border medal.
Clarke won his first Allan Border Medal at the age of 23 in 2005 and since becoming an international phenomenon, he has never looked back and during this year’s ceremony, he stated that he believes he has outgrown his nickname ‘Pup’.
However, Clarke’s nickname was not the main aspect of his speech and while he was pleased to have won another Allan Border Medal, the Australian captain noted that he wanted to see his team win more awards together instead of individuals that form the squad always collecting trophies and topping the rankings.
“It is an honour to win an individual award on a night like tonight but it’s more about the team,” Clarke said after being named Australia’s best player for the past 12 months. “I would love to see the Australian cricket team standing on a stage in the near future winning the best sporting team in this country or the best sporting team in the world. Something like that is my goal and I know it’s the players’ goal as well. It is nice to win another Allan Border Medal and just as special as the first time I won but I’d love to see the team up there winning awards more than individual players.”
Nobody would blame Clarke for celebrating that night, especially given the fact that he scored 1,595 Test runs in 2012, which is the most by any Australian batsman.
Since replacing Ricky Ponting as skipper nearly two years ago, Clarke has been averaging 72.48 in the 20 games he has captained and the only series the national side have lost under his captaincy has been against South Africa in December last year, where the wheels completely fell off during the third Test in Perth, which allowed the Proteas to sneak away with a 1-0 series victory and keep hold of their coveted number one Test team ranking.
While Australia have been absolutely dominant for the majority of Clarke’s reign, the captain himself does not feel as upbeat as everyone else.
“I would have liked to have done better,” he said. “We’ve played some really good cricket at times but we’ve let ourselves down in patches as well, in all formats, not just Test cricket, one-day cricket as well.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to sit here and say ‘we’re fantastic, we don’t need to improve anything’. I speak regularly to the boys about every time we go to training we’re trying to get better, that’s the only way to become the best.
“When I first came into the Australian team I was part of such a special team and we had so many great players and we were the No.1 Test and one-day team in the world for a long period. Those memories stick fondly in the front of my mind and I want this current Australian team to have that same feeling and be able to walk out on the field and know what it’s like to be the best in the world. That’s our goal and until we get there, I think we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Clarke has an extremely tough year planned ahead of him as his team are currently battling India, where they are losing 1-0 in the ongoing four-Test series.
After the conclusion of their tour of India, Australia will fly straight to England, where they will take on their arch-rivals in the back-to-back Ashes series, in which Clarke will be under immense pressure to bring the urn back home and stop England from winning it for a third time in a row.
However, despite all the challenges that lie ahead, Clarke is not losing focus on the ultimate prize, which is the number one Test team spot.
“I don’t prioritise any tour,” he added. “I know the Ashes we talk about in this country as the pinnacle, but as an Australian player every Test is exactly the same.
“Every one-dayer is exactly the same. I’m sure for the T20 boys it’s the same. The more you build something up, the harder it is to actually reach the top.”
Clarke has learnt from his past mistakes that taking everything series by series is the best way to go, especially after he was dropped in 2005 for his brash habit of assuming the national team would win everything.
After being dropped in 2005, Clarke admitted that he was uncertain if he would ever be able to revive his Test career.
“When I first came into the Australian team the senior players regularly spoke to me about not being in such a rush, being more patient and trying to be as consistent as I could through the good times and the bad times,” he said. “As a young player with no patience and always in a rush that was quite difficult. When I got dropped it made me stop and reflect on the areas I wasn’t giving 100% to help my performance.
“I think that probably changed my attitude in regards to everything else off the field had to come second. Preparation has always been the key to my success and I wasn’t going to let anything stand in my way, to make sure my preparation was 100%, to get back in that Australian team. The scary thing about getting dropped is you never know if you’re going to play again for Australia.”