Clarke joins Bradman, Hammond with big scores
Robert Smith
Michael Clarke joined Don Bradman and Wally Hammond as the only
players to hit double and triple centuries in the same series on
Wednesday as Australia made India suffer in the fourth Test.
The Australian captain followed up the unbeaten 329 he made in the
second Test in Sydney with 210 at the Adelaide Oval as the hosts
declared on 604 for seven on the second day against the despairing
Indians.
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Michael Clarke AFP |
Fourth highest
Clarke and Ricky Ponting (221) put on 386 for the fourth wicket, the
fourth highest Test partnership of all time for Australia - with all
three bigger stands featuring the great Bradman. But the skipper played
down his achievement in matching Bradman and Englishman Hammond, both
regarded as among the finest batsmen ever to play the game.
"I didn't know that, but it's very nice. It's very special, no doubt
about it. One thing I've never been very keen on is statistics and
records," Clarke said. "It's about helping your team win and, if things
like that come along, it's very special."
Clarke said he and Ponting were keen to cash in on the chance to post
big innings during their partnership, which lasted more than six hours.
"When you are doing well, you need to make big scores because the
other side of that is going to come around again and you're going to
have some failures," he said.
"It's a tough game, it's the toughest game in the world, in my
opinion. The captain said he and Ponting had been disappointed with
their contributions in last year's Ashes series, which Australia lost,
and were keen to occupy the crease against India for as long as
possible.
Long time
"It's always nice to see both of us scoring runs and to bat together,
we've known each other for a long time, played a lot of cricket together
and it's nice to spend some time in the middle," he said.
"I guess both of us were disappointed with our series last summer but
we've worked hard on our games to improve and it's nice to score some
runs this summer.
"We know each other's games quite well and we can both communicate
what we're seeing out there." ADELAIDE, Australia, Friday, AFP |
