Michael Clarke

Michael John Clarke (born 2 April 1981) is an Australian cricket commentator and former cricketer. He led Australia to their 5th Cricket World Cup triumph, when his team were victorious in the final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 at the MCG. He is regarded as one of the best batsmen of his generation.

He is the first captain for Australia in Twenty20 Internationals. His ODI shirt number of 23 was passed on to him by Shane Warne after his international retirement. Nicknamed "Pup", he is a right-handed middle-order batsman, an occasional left-arm orthodox spin bowler and also a slip catcher. He represented New South Wales at a domestic level.

In January 2011, Clarke stood down as captain of the Australian Twenty20 cricket team to concentrate on his Test and ODI performance.

After announcing he would retire from One Day cricket after the end of the 2015 Cricket World Cup, Clarke starred in the final against New Zealand top scoring with a score of 74 off 72 balls, as Australia won their fifth World Cup title. He was bowled when nine runs were required to win and received a standing ovation from the 93,013 strong MCG crowd after his dismissal.

On 8 August 2015, Clarke announced that he would retire from all forms of cricket after the final Test of the 2015 Ashes series following a difficult series in terms of both his and the team's performance. Australia suffered a crushing defeat of an innings and 78 runs thus losing the Ashes. This was Clarke's fourth successive Ashes loss in England overall and his second as captain.