Century no.23 for Michael Clarke

Michael Clarke's form has been sublime the last two seasons and he's opened up his first tour of India as Captain with a century, while also building an innings saving partnership with debutant Moises Henriques (Baggy Green #432). Their stand brought 151 runs, matching Clarkey's individual score on debut back in 2004, Bangalore.

When I did the statistics wrap-up for the summer a few weeks back I made a note that Clarkey was just a few runs away from equaling Sir Donald Bradman's career runs scored.

He managed to surpass this milestone of The Don's, but no comparison should ever be drawn to the legend.
Those runs were scored during a different era, with tougher conditions, basic equipment, as well as achieving his 6,996 runs in only 80 innings.

However, the achievement placed Clarkey in the Top 10 all time run-scorers for Australia in Test cricket. He also went past 7,000 Test runs.

To top it off his century is number 23 (his ODI shirt number) and his 3rd Test century in India, against India. This century puts him level with Justin Langer in terms of most centuries scored for Australia in Test cricket, placing him 7th on the list.

© BCCI. Clarke reaches his century (Chennai)

Massive congrats to the skipper, very proud of him!
Always a pleasure to watch him battle against spin bowling. The foot work and bat speed is always a treat. No exception with this innings, especially being played under pressure.

It was a challenging day for our batsmen as India sent down 95 overs. 73 of these overs were delivered by India's three spin bowlers. Ravichandran Ashwin claimed 6 wickets for the days play, quite a stack.
This will raise Nathan Lyon's eyebrows and give him some confidence, but will also mean the pressure is on come our dig at the Indians in the first innings. He likely has a huge job to do.

Michael Clarke and Peter Siddle will resume tomorrow with the score currently 7/316, with James Pattinson and Nathan Lyon to follow.

After being in a worrying position at 4/131, after the opening stand between David Warner (59) and Ed Cowan brought 68 runs, we have recovered excellently to ensure it's an even sort of day come the stumps.
First session tomorrow is a massive one for us as we target 350 runs and India eye those last three wickets.

Michael Clarke's individual innings list since taking on the Captaincy against Sri Lanka (2011/12):
Summary: 21 matches, 35 innings, 2,350 runs, HS 329*, Average 75.80, x9 centuries, x4 fifties.

Versus Sri Lanka: 23, 60, 13, 6, 112,
Versus South Africa: 151, 2, 11, 2,
Versus New Zealand: 139, 22, 0,
Versus India: 31, 1, 329*, 18, 210, 37,
Versus West Indies: 73, 6, 45, 15, 24, 25,
Versus South Africa: 259*, 230, 38, 5, 44,
Versus Sri Lanka: 74, 57*, 106, 50, 29,
Versus India: 103* (currently in progress)

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Moises Henriques to debut in Chennai

The Australian Squad for the 1st Test has been announced and it includes one debutant.

David Warner, 
Ed Cowan, 
Phillip Hughes, 
Shane Watson, 
Michael Clarke (captain), 
Matthew Wade (wk), 
*Moises Henriques (debutant), 
Peter Siddle, 
Mitchell Starc, 
James Pattinson, 
Nathan Lyon.

Moises Henriques (New South Wales) will become Baggy Green number 432 and the warm-up games were enough to boost his case as the called to duty all-rounder.

Moises batted with aggression and freedom during the warm-up matches and it is reported that he found reverse swing during the warm-up matches with the ball in hand, backed by a tight line and length.
Furthermore he maintained economical figures which, if achieved against India, will build some serious pressure allowing some brutal partnerships from the bowling department. The last all-rounder to do this with good effectiveness was Andrew McDonald, who assisted Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle against The Proteas in this regard.

Moises has the benefit as an aggressive middle order batsman but his bowling should not be underestimated, as his figures of 4-12 in the first warm-up game gave massive credibility to warrant his selection.
Warm-up games are there either for experienced players to show form and adapt to conditions, or for new comers to impress and make an impression. In Moises' case it was the latter.

If the pitch happens to turn into a bit of a landmine then both him and Nathan Lyon will prove to be a handful. Some satisfactory depth in our batting line-up will help a stack if this benefits India, even with a top three of left handed batsmen. Always a talking point for the Indian spin department.

On the topic of spinners, Nathan Lyon has been retained as the front-line spinner of choice, which is a wise move by Michael Clarke and the selectors given the number of spinners whose confidence has been shattered through inconsistent selection policies and lack of belief shown in their skills.

Nathan should head into the game with better self-belief based on this decision and he'll remember the aspects of the summer that resulted in some criticism. Lack of wickets to ease the workload of the fast bowlers or find ways to menace the middle order and get vital breakthroughs was a worry. This was notable in Adelaide against The Proteas. He also dropped dynamics of his bowling that had been strongly attributed to his success.

Fortunately Nathan is a bloke who is aware of the word on the street and has continued to defend himself, which is an admirable quality. Also counts for something when Shane Warne still tips you as the best spinner in Australia.

Batting wise Ed Cowan impressed with some credible performances in the warm-up games, alongside Shane Watson who will play as a middle order batsman with David Warner, having been declared fit to play.
It allows the Cowan/David Warner partnership to continue and Watto shouldn't be too stressed out in the middle order after making a good return to the ODI circuit and being the leading batsman in the warm-up games.

All in all I am happy with the squad and the fast bowling unit was always going to be a bit of a tricky one to decide upon given every guy deserves a place in the starting XI. One spinner is also fine in my eyes.
Michael Clarke is there for part-time spin and the inclusion of Henriques will ensure it's not a rhythm of all out pace.

All fixtures can be found here or by clicking the graphic at the top of the page.

*Read the last article at The Baggy Green Blog:
The enhanced value and importance of women's cricket'

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