Cricket great Michael Clarke’s infamous Noosa altercation with girlfriend Jade Yarborough was addressed in his return to the airwaves with Big Sports Breakfast on Monday morning.
Appearing for the first time this year alongside co-hosts Gerard Middleton and Laurie Daley, Clarke was largely spoken for by Middleton, who declared the show wouldn’t be delving into the issue.
“Now of course enormous fascination into Clarkey’s life and we are just hitting this on the head straight away,” Middleton said.
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“It is a private matter that Clarkey’s obviously been dealing with, a very, very private matter which unfortunately was made public.
“There’s a lot of factors in play here and Clarkey’s made his statement last week and due to all the factors in play we are moving forward on The Big Sports Breakfast this morning.”
However Middleton couldn’t resist asking Clarke about the hamstring injury he sustained outside a Noosa restaurant on January 10, with vision of the incident showing the 41-year-old limping badly.
“I want to ask you, you showed us before that bruise on your hamstring, that is incredible mate,” Middleton said.
“You won’t be able to walk properly for weeks.”
Clarke blew off the injury saying it was fine and that his focus was only on the show ahead.
“Nah it’s fine buddy, it’s on the mend, I’m good to go, I’m ready, game day, good to go, on the mend,” Clarke said.
It comes as the Sydney Moring Herald reported Clarke was set to be replaced as a TV commentator for Australia’s upcoming Test series against India, with the BCCI searching for another ex-player to perform the role. Matthew Hayden is the other former Australian player that’s set to be part of the commentary team for the series, which starts next month.
While Clarke on Monday morning didn’t mention his India commentary role, he revealed he had recently been approached to commentate on the upcoming Pakistan Super League T20 competition — days after it emerged he was in danger of losing his six-figure gig for Australia’s upcoming tour of India.
Clarke went on to discuss Australia’s summer of cricket, describing the Test series’ against West Indies and South Africa as sub-par while praising Australia’s performance.
“I thought the Aussies were brilliant but South Africa’s batting was what I was worried about I thought they were really poor, and then once Australia got on a roll, in these conditions we just got used to the pace of South Africa,” Clarke said on Monday.
“I thought South Africa’s bowling attack was good but Australia used their speed to our advantage on very good batting wickets
“But I thought South Africa’s batting was nowhere near good enough against Australia’s bowlers but I think the Aussies deserve a lot of credit for how they played.”
Clarke later had to swat away some cheeky jabs from Big Sports Breakfast regular Phil ‘Buzz’ Rothfield’ when the veteran Daily Telegraph reporter appeared for his segment.
The pair have repeatedly butted heads — most recently in a heated debate about the Allan Border Medal — and Rothfield took his first opportunity to take a gentle dig at Clarke on Monday morning.
“Clarkey I’ve got a lot of questions to ask you, am I allowed to?,” Rothfield said.
Clarke replied: “I’ll probably have no answers for you but go for your life.”
Rothfield continied: “Well, how was Noosa? No I better not … I was going to put my journo’s cap on and make a few enquiries but … are you OK?
Clarke replied “I’m good thanks buddy” and the conversation moved on but Rothfield later referenced the issue one more time before signing off.
“You did well Clarkey did dodge me … oh he’s gone … alright,” he said.
Stronger comments came from 2GB radio host Ben Fordham who criticised Clarke over his weak response after it was claimed the cricket great would address the matter in his return to the airwaves.
“Michael Clarke was on radio this morning and we had heard from journalists covering the story that he was likely going to address the incident but there was silence from the former Test captain,” Fordham said.
“Clarkey had nothing to say, how cowardly can you get, I mean he’s got a microphone in front of him, he’s sitting in a radio studio, it’s the story everyone’s talking about and Clarkey squibs it.
“Clarkey, you wuss.”
Triple M’s Mark Geyer and Mick Molloy also took aim, declaring Clarke had blown an opportunity to put the matter behind him.
“You can’t go ‘we’re not talking about it’ and then go into detail about the hamstring,” Molloy said on Triple M’s Mick & MG in the Morning.
“Now people will keep digging more,” rugby league great Geyer replied.
“He walked into the scenario not limping, and he walked out of it limping!”
Back on the cricket, Clarke said he had long held fears that South Africa would crumble in Australia given “their lack of experience batting in these conditions.”
Clarke’s radio comments represented the former Australian Test captain’s first public statements since he apologised for the drama last Wednesday, telling The Daily Telegraph: “I accept full responsibility for this altercation and am shattered by my actions.”
His apology came after dramatic vision emerged of Clarke being accused of cheating by his girlfriend Jade Yarbrough.
You can watch the video of the incident here.
Clarke represented Australia in 115 Test matches and 245 ODIs after making his international debut in 2003.
The right-hander scored 8643 Test runs, including 28 centuries and a career-best 329 not out against India at the SCG in 2012.
He captained Australia to their 2013/14 Ashes whitewash and 2015 World Cup victory.
A spokesman for Tabcorp, the company that owns Sky Sports Radio, producers of the Big Sports Breakfast, told news.com.au “the company doesn’t comment on the personal matters of its employees”.
