We want to be No. 1: Clarke
First Published : 28 Jan 2012, 16:17
Last Modified : 28 Jan 2012, 10:47
Adelaide, Jan 28: Michael Clarke played a crucial role as captain and batsman in Australia’s 4-0 victory over India in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Adjudged Man-of-the-Series for his effort that included a triple- and a double-ton, Clarke credited his team and support staff for their role in the win.
In the post-match interaction with the media, Clarke spoke about the significance of the series win for Australia and his batting performance.
Excerpts:
On winning his first home series as captain 4-0
It is a good start. A lot of credit has to go to the boys standing over there and not just the players but also the support staff. The job done over the last few months by them is outstanding. It hasn’t come easy. It might have looked that way on the scoreboard but it certainly wasn’t that way. We have worked hard. There have been a few ups and downs over the last few months with our cricket but we are slowly getting there. We are proud of what we have achieved.
On what had brought about the change over the last one year
Lot of hard work, firstly, but I think the disappointment last summer has inspired a few of us who were involved to make sure it didn’t recur this summer. There has been a fire in the belly [to achieve] and we have known that we have to get better in all facets of the game. That’s been our goal as a team – to try and improve. Every day we go into training and you have seen some of the results of that.
On seeming a little unhappy around the declaration on Day 4
I had a moment over there. But I have been happy the whole time, to be honest, by the way the boys have been playing. I’ve had a lot of support […] I cannot thank the guys enough. I thank India; they’re a fantastic team with a lot of great players. They have got a little bit of slack over the last month or so but they have got some legends of the game and the Australian public loves that India have come out here to play. As captain of this team here, it’s an honour to continue to play against you guys.
On whether this was his best series ever as a batsman
Yes, certainly because I haven’t got these many runs in a series in my career. I hope it gets better. I won’t stop working hard; there are still areas in my game that need to improve. But one’s performance goes up around such a good bowling line-up. It’s been very satisfying to me that I hope there is improvement to come.
On whether Man-of-the-Match Peter Siddle was his go-to man for any situation
Definitely, for batting he is my go-to man. He is a night watchman and he has had a very good start. […] He has bowled really well throughout the series. All the bowlers have. As an attack they have really bowled well together and on any given day somebody gets results, somebody gets a five-for and a couple of the other guys miss out. So it’s nice that every single bowler has got rewards through the series.
On the most memorable moment of the series
Honestly, it’s what we have done in training that sticks in my mind. We have worked so hard over the last few months with our preparation and that’s why I am not surprised that individual players are getting rewards out in the middle. That’s the key to our success; making sure that we are training as hard as we can and pushing ourselves to new levels and we are seeing the rewards.
On what the series win means to the evolution of Australian cricket
We are very pleased. India are the No. 2 Test team in the world [No. 3 after this series loss]. They’re a very strong and experienced team. We should be very satisfied with our performance but as I have said, we have a long way to go. We are ranked No. 4 in the world and we want to be get back to No 1. We should be happy and celebrate our success. It’s been a wonderful start to the summer but we know there is a lot of work still to be done.
