Agence France Presse
Sydney, August 5: Defiant and angry Australian captain Michael Clarke vowed Wednesday to keep playing on after the Ashes series with England, with those suggesting he was finished talking ‘a complete load of rubbish’.
Pressure has been building on Clarke, who has a meagre Ashes series total of 94 runs in six innings with Australian media saying Tuesday he looked ‘lost’ and knew the end was near. But the 34-year-old said he was going nowhere, with the desire to play still burning strongly.
“The criticisms of my game at the moment are deserved and I wouldn’t expect anything different, especially as the captain of the team,” Clarke said in a column for Sydney’s ‘Daily Telegraph’.
“But I’ve heard there have been a few articles questioning me for not having that hunger inside me. I think somebody said they could ‘see it in my eyes’ that I was finished after this series. That’s a complete load of rubbish.”
Clarke also asserted that the hunger to succeed is still there. “People can certainly have a shot at me about my performances, but they can’t have a shot at me about my desire and my will to play this great game,” Clarke pointed out.