da cassino： Michael Clarke holds firm amid the uncertainties leading up to the first Test at Melbourne
da bet sport： Siddhartha Vaidyanathan in Melbourne24-Dec-2007
With the recent battering of the Sri Lankan attack, Michael Clarke is certain of success against the Indian attack © AFP
Will it swing? Will it spin? Will it rain? Will Australia play four fastbowlers? Will India think of two spinners? A lot of questions doing therounds, thanks largely to Melbourne’s gloriously fickle weather.Only a few days ago, the city was parched in drought. Then the Indiansarrived, bringing the rain with them. Puddles have formed, temperatures havedropped, and the chill southerly wind has stung. Occasionally, the sun hascome out. The forecast for Boxing Day is for sunshine but the locals won’tcount on it. Nobody really knows what to expect.Tony Ware has been head groundsman at the MCG for 15 years and partof the ground staff for nearly 30. Even he doesn’t want to punt on theweather. He reckons, however, that it will be a good batting pitch and would aid spin towards the fourth and fifth days. “We’re hoping to get some bounce,” he said, “but it should be ok if we get some good sunshine tomorrow. It just needs a bit of work.”Australians are turned on by a casino but few in Melbourne want tobet on the sun coming out. “Heads you win, tails I lose,” says one of thesecuritymen with a smile. “It’s that kind of game.”Michael Clarke is bolder. He’s young, wears a sparkling ear stud andpossesses a smile that can light up the MCG. And he’s nicknamed Pup. He’sthe sort who would want to make a prediction.”It [the pitch] looked alittle damp,” he said with exuberance. “There was a a little bit of grass atone end and it’s bare at the other. The sunshine will probably dry it out,flatten it out. With the forecast good, it will be a very good pitch overfive days.”Three years ago, Clarke bounded into Test cricket with a smashing hundred ondebut in Bangalore. Watch the celebration and you’ll notice the passionatekiss that the Baggy Green got on his reaching the landmark. Watch theinnings and you’ll see a twinkle-toed batsman, supremely confident againstspin.”It comes to mind, my success against India” he said about that series. “Andmy success was because of my preparation – assessing conditions, knowingwhat their bowlers did. But, I haven’t played India in Australia. I’m goingto have to be very patient and try and put the pressure back on them. I’llhave to move my feet and play my natural game.”Australia’s batsmen had little trouble against Muttiah Muralitharan recentlybut Clarke didn’t think much could be read into that hammering [4 for 400 off 116 overs]. “Brisbane and Hobart didn’t turntoo much,” he said. “Also against Murali we had two guys set. Most great players do the most damage bowling to new batsmen. It’s not easystarting against spin. Having said that, we played Harbhajan [Singh] prettywell in India, and the guys have had success with Anil [Kumble].”Clarke didn’t face either Shaun Tait or Mitchell Johnson at the nets todaybut wasn’t complaining. “I was happy I wasn’t facing them, they were bothbowling quick,” he beamed. “We’ll probably have to wait till game day to seewhich of them plays depending on the conditions.”He’s spent the last two days preparing for India’s seamers, particularly theleft-armers who would be angling the ball away from his body. It’s an anglethat England’s batsmen struggled to come to terms with during India’svictorious series there but Clarke felt he would be prepared. “Theopportunity to face Chaminda Vaas in the recent series against Sri Lankawill hold us in good stead,” he said. “We did a lot of work with the bowlingmachine too, setting the left-armers’ angle.”
