Posted by We’ve done a special Ridiculous Ashes podcast about Michael Clarke stemming from our coverage of the 2013/14 series. We got writer, broadcaster and podcaster Adam Collins on to help us because he knows more about Michael Clarke than we do.
We never really ‘got’ Michael Clarke. The thing that baffled us most was that there seemed to be fairly widespread distaste for him in Australia that only barely receded when he was relentlessly knocking out double hundreds to prop up an otherwise fairly crap team.
It’s almost forgotten now, but he was sufficiently good in 2012 that we were forced to name him Lord Megachief of Gold. If you read that piece, you can perhaps detect that we weren’t delighted about this. But that’s how good he was. He forced our hand. And yet no-one ever really talks about that period any more.
Clarke is not a forgotten man; but he is not a particularly celebrated man. And that’s weird.
He also had this whole peculiar performative zaniness that he sometimes wheeled out and which didn’t seem to fit the rest of his character at all. What was that about?
That’s pretty much what the podcast is about. Trying to work Michael Clarke out. Adam – who you’ll surely have come across at The Final Word, Sky Sports, the BBC, the Guardian, or any number of other places – is there to help us out with that.
You can find the episode below.
You can also subscribe to the Ridiculous Ashes through whatever podcasting thing you use.
The best thing you can say about Clarke is that he’s a lifelong person.
Nice to hear a third voice/opinion on there, it adds something.
The funny thing is, the first think I thought about when I saw that it was an episode about Michael Clarke was ‘he went on a ridiculous run of scoring for a year or two, didn’t he’, but the consensus seemed to be that his various other antics/spats/mishaps, some of which I had either completely forgotten or was perhaps unaware of at the time, had overshadowed this.
Argh, should be “the first thing I thought about”….
The “first think I thought about” is more poetic, anyway.
We don’t know if he’s remembered for specific mishaps even, so much as he’s just under-remembered given his record. Or he’s remembered for being somehow unpopular.
A third voice is always good, but given we struggle to find a time when two of us are free, it’ll be the exception rather than the rule.
I hate Michael Clarke to the extent that whenever he is commentating I am always waiting for his commentary saying that either he is good, Australia is good, or Australians are good.
I recently watched a ‘clip’ on youtube of Jack Leach’s and Ben Stokes’ full final wicket partnership at Headingly in 2019 and when he is commentating on that, it is bad enough to make you want to vomit. #opposethevaccine, no not that, #opposemichaelclarke.
ps. #supportthevaccine
Adam Collins is a good fellow; doing sterling work commentating on the Middlesex live video feeds these past couple of years.
I look forward to hearing the Ridiculous Clarke podcast once my feet metaphorically touch the ground later today/over the weekend.
In his own (very different) way, Stuart Broad must be a candidate for a Ridiculous Ashes special – there is something extraordinary about the many and varied ridiculous things that have happened around him over the years. Unlike Clarke, though, Broad is proving to be a very good, albeit rookie, summariser/broadcaster – I hope he perseveres with broadcasting as he starts to develop his post-playing career.
On that point, I really enjoyed his commentary during the T20’s and I think that he is better than the likes of Vaughn and some of the other TMS. To be honest I think TMS and a few commentary teams need a few more shake ups. There are so many active players that they can call upon for commentary duties and I think that the active players that do commentate, commentate better as they are more up to date with the game.
I also hate Vaughn’s strong opinions. I think Jimmy Anderson should shred a image of him as well as R Ashwin.
I also hate Tom Curran for running out Livingstone in the second T20.
Unmitigated hate is not a good look, Felix.
Actually the most enlightening/enjoyable thing about the Ridiculous Michael Clarke Special is Adam Collins’s circumlocutions about Michael Clarke, exposing Collins’s cognitive dissonance about his subject to the scrutiny of listeners who had turned up for ridiculousness.
It was great that he consistently felt moved to offer up the case for the defence because it meant that we didn’t have to.
Enjoyed this. Adam’s effusive praise for Alex at the end made me feel quite emotional.