pup takes baby steps

4/141

3/216

4/128

3/284

4/257

3/206

3/199

These are the scores when Michael Clarke has come to the wicket and made hundreds.

Not one score under 128 when he has come in.

Today he almost did it.

98 out of 214 coming in at 3/23 goes some way to placating me, and the many of us who think he only makes runs when there is a flat pitch and a platform.

Today he was streaky early on, most of his earlier boundaries were from the outside of his bat to third man.

But he fought it out.

I have never doubted his talent, or how much he wants to play for Australia.

But when he comes in and the ball is moving and his team mates are falling, his head gets muddled and he makes more mistakes than usual.

He was lucky on day one.

The edges didn’t go to hand, and his good record at the Gabba remains.

I will put this one in the plus column for him.

The Vice Captaincy seems to have made him a better batsman.

And he may well make it to the next level, but he still has a long way to go to prove himself to a lot of cricket fans.

But if he slips back, hell hath no fury like a blogger scorned.

cricketwithballs

www.cricketwithballs.com... We constantly get sodomized down the legside