Skipper Clarke up for big day

Jan 03, 2011 - AP

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Jan. 2: Stand-in skipper Michael Clarke said on Sunday he intends to lead Australia his way in this week’s final Ashes Test against England at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Clarke, captaining in place of the injured Ricky Ponting in the fifth Test, has opted to change the way the team’s symbolic baggy green caps are handed out to debutants Michael Beer and Usman Khawaja before the start of play.

Ponting, as captain, generally made the on-field presentations to Test newcomers, but Clarke has decided to call on a pair of former players to perform the task on Monday.

Clarke said he wanted to replicate the feeling he enjoyed when Shane Warne presented him with his first cap for his debut Test at Bangalore in 2004.

The 29-year-old, bidding to level the five-match series with England at 2-2, said he wanted to keep identities of the former players under wraps. “I’d like to invite a couple of the older guys who have experienced Test cricket to present the caps,” Clarke told reporters.

“They’ll be guys outside the team who have played for Australia. The players don’t know who they are so it’s a bit of a surprise for them. While Ponting will remain a visible presence around the Australian dressing room during the Sydney Test as he is treated for a fractured finger, Clarke said he would be in charge of the team.

“Yeah, it is (my team),” he said. “Ricky’s made that very clear, that all the decisions that are made will come from the people, the selectors firstly, to pick the team.
“But once I take that field, they will come from me.”
Clarke said he discussed with Ponting the possible awkward situation of having the injured skipper around the team dressing room for the fifth Test. —

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