Rikki Clarke
Encyclopedia
Rikki Clarke is an English
cricket
er, currently playing for Warwickshire
. He was educated at Broadwater School
http://content.cricinfo.com/england/content/player/11724.html and then Godalming College
.
's championship-winning Second XI team in 2001, Clarke quickly established himself in the first team the following season. He made an unbeaten 107 in his debut first-class
innings, against Cambridge UCCE
and also scored 153 not out against Somerset
, ending the season 711 runs at an average
of over 50. He was awarded the Cricket Writers' Club's Young Cricketer of the Year award and the NBC Denis Compton Award
for his achievements in 2002.
His domestic form suffered in 2004 as he could manage a first-class batting average of only 31.17 and just nine wickets all season. His one-day performances were even worse, as he passed fifty just once in 11 innings. In a 50 overs a side match played on the 29th April Clarke hit 82 runs off only 28 balls. It included 9 Fours and 6 Sixes. It helped Surrey get to 494-5 against Gloucestershire.
In the 2007 season, Clarke played only ten first-class matches for Surrey, scoring 301 runs and 15 wickets.
as captain for the 2008 season. The move came after it became increasingly difficult for him to secure a place in Surrey's first team. Clarke said of the move:
Clarke hoped that the move to Derbyshire would improve his chance of being selected for England. Despite Clarke's high hopes, he experienced a poor run of form in the 2008 season that led to him quitting the captaincy. When he made his decision, he was averaging 21 with the bat and 38 with the ball from eight first-class matches. The only first-class half century of his tenure as captain was a score of 81 against Warwickshire
in May. At one point, his form was so bad that he dropped himself.
, Warwickshire's director of cricket, said:
After a number of lowly displays for his new side, Clarke came in to prominence in a game in late April against Hampshire at Edgbaston. Clarke took 2-63 in the Hampshire first innings, and then went on to score a lusty 112 from 86 balls in a Warwickshire reply of 630-8 Declared.
debut, for the One Day International against Pakistan
at Old Trafford
. Although he took a wicket with his first ball in ODIs (the first Englishman to achieve this feat for three decades) he had a poor match overall, being bowled behind his legs for a duck after playing a totally misjudged sweep and conceding 41 runs from his 7.2 overs. He was retained for the rest of the summer's ODIs despite a total of just three wickets and a high score of only 37.
A groin injury to Andrew Flintoff
led to Clarke being drafted into the squad for the 2003/04 tour of Bangladesh
and on this tour he made his Test
debut, at Dhaka
. An undistinguished match was followed by a better performance at Chittagong
where he made 55 in the first innings and a quickfire 27 from 16 balls in the second helped set up England's match-winning declaration. He also picked up three wickets, returning a notable analysis
of 7-4-7-2 in the Bangladeshis'
first innings. He played in only the first of the ODIs against Sri Lanka
, a disastrous ten-wicket defeat, and was not selected for any other international games on that tour.
At the end of that winter, England toured the West Indies, and Clarke was picked for five of the seven ODIs. He failed completely, not reaching double figures in any of his four innings and taking 3-108 from the 18 overs he was allowed. By the time the tour finally finished in early May, Clarke's international career looked in serious jeopardy, but he was given one more chance by injuries to Flintoff and Marcus Trescothick
early in the summer of 2004. Clarke was included for the Leeds
ODI against the West Indians
, but another failure (conceding 30 runs from four overs) followed, and the selectors had seen enough: Clarke was dropped and has not played for England since.
He enjoyed a better 2005, however, and earned a trip to the Academy.
However, in 2006 his luck changed. After averaging 64.66 [including a career best 214] he was drafted into England's one-day squad to play Pakistan. Despite a decent 39 in difficult conditions at Lords he failed with the bat only scoring 45 runs in 3 matches. Like in the West Indies he bowled poorly, overall conceding 64 runs of 10.5 overs with only 1 wicket. He was included in the 2006 Champions Trophy but did not play. He also failed to make the England 'A' tour.
Thought to be a big talent, Clarke has so far failed to perform to the level expected by his admirers.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er, currently playing for Warwickshire
Warwickshire County Cricket Club
Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Warwickshire. Its limited overs team is called the Warwickshire Bears. Their kit colours are black and gold and the shirt sponsor...
. He was educated at Broadwater School
Broadwater School
Broadwater School is a state, secondary Specialist Mathematics and Computing College in Farncombe, near Godalming, Surrey, England. It has been a mixed comprehensive school since 1970, and now has approximately 600 students aged 11–16 years. Its facilities extend over four floors and takes students...
http://content.cricinfo.com/england/content/player/11724.html and then Godalming College
Godalming College
Godalming College is a state sixth form college, situated in Godalming, four miles from Guildford, Surrey, England. The college is highly popular and has been consistently oversubscribed in recent years. It is the successor to Godalming Grammar School, a state grammar school...
.
Surrey
After some fine performances in SurreySurrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...
's championship-winning Second XI team in 2001, Clarke quickly established himself in the first team the following season. He made an unbeaten 107 in his debut first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
innings, against Cambridge UCCE
Cambridge University Cricket Club
Cambridge University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team. It now plays all but one of its first-class cricket matches as part of the Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excellence , which includes Anglia Ruskin University...
and also scored 153 not out against Somerset
Somerset County Cricket Club
Somerset County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Somerset...
, ending the season 711 runs at an average
Batting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
of over 50. He was awarded the Cricket Writers' Club's Young Cricketer of the Year award and the NBC Denis Compton Award
NBC Denis Compton Award
The NBC Denis Compton Award is an annual award given to 'The Most Promising Young Player' at each of the 18 English first-class counties. A player may receive the award more than once.-History:...
for his achievements in 2002.
His domestic form suffered in 2004 as he could manage a first-class batting average of only 31.17 and just nine wickets all season. His one-day performances were even worse, as he passed fifty just once in 11 innings. In a 50 overs a side match played on the 29th April Clarke hit 82 runs off only 28 balls. It included 9 Fours and 6 Sixes. It helped Surrey get to 494-5 against Gloucestershire.
In the 2007 season, Clarke played only ten first-class matches for Surrey, scoring 301 runs and 15 wickets.
Derbyshire
In October 2007, it was confirmed Clarke had signed for second division DerbyshireDerbyshire County Cricket Club
Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the England and Wales domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Derbyshire...
as captain for the 2008 season. The move came after it became increasingly difficult for him to secure a place in Surrey's first team. Clarke said of the move:
Clarke hoped that the move to Derbyshire would improve his chance of being selected for England. Despite Clarke's high hopes, he experienced a poor run of form in the 2008 season that led to him quitting the captaincy. When he made his decision, he was averaging 21 with the bat and 38 with the ball from eight first-class matches. The only first-class half century of his tenure as captain was a score of 81 against Warwickshire
Warwickshire County Cricket Club
Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Warwickshire. Its limited overs team is called the Warwickshire Bears. Their kit colours are black and gold and the shirt sponsor...
in May. At one point, his form was so bad that he dropped himself.
Warwickshire
After an unsuccessful year at Derbyshire, Clarke signed a three-year deal with Warwickshire in September 2008. Warwickshire had been interested in Clarke for a long time and Ashley GilesAshley Giles
Ashley Fraser Giles MBE is a retired English cricketer. Giles played the entirety of his 14-year first-class career at Warwickshire County Cricket Club where he is now employed as Director of Cricket...
, Warwickshire's director of cricket, said:
After a number of lowly displays for his new side, Clarke came in to prominence in a game in late April against Hampshire at Edgbaston. Clarke took 2-63 in the Hampshire first innings, and then went on to score a lusty 112 from 86 balls in a Warwickshire reply of 630-8 Declared.
International career
Some more good performances in the early part of 2003 brought Clarke his EnglandEnglish cricket team
The England and Wales cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales. Until 1992 it also represented Scotland. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board , having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end...
debut, for the One Day International against Pakistan
Pakistani cricket team
The Pakistan cricket team is the national cricket team of Pakistan. Pakistan, represented by the Pakistan Cricket Board , is a full member of the International Cricket Council, and thus participates in , and cricket matches....
at Old Trafford
Old Trafford (cricket)
Old Trafford is a cricket ground situated on Talbot Road in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester. It has been the home of Lancashire County Cricket Club since its foundation in 1864, having been the ground of Manchester Cricket Club from 1857...
. Although he took a wicket with his first ball in ODIs (the first Englishman to achieve this feat for three decades) he had a poor match overall, being bowled behind his legs for a duck after playing a totally misjudged sweep and conceding 41 runs from his 7.2 overs. He was retained for the rest of the summer's ODIs despite a total of just three wickets and a high score of only 37.
A groin injury to Andrew Flintoff
Andrew Flintoff
Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff MBE is a former English cricketer who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club, England and the Indian Premier League team Chennai Super Kings. A tall fast bowler, batsman and slip fielder, Flintoff according to the ICC rankings was consistently rated amongst the top...
led to Clarke being drafted into the squad for the 2003/04 tour of Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
and on this tour he made his Test
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
debut, at Dhaka
Dhaka
Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka Division. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia. Located on the banks of the Buriganga River, Dhaka, along with its metropolitan area, had a population of over 15 million in 2010, making it the largest city...
. An undistinguished match was followed by a better performance at Chittagong
Chittagong
Chittagong ) is a city in southeastern Bangladesh and the capital of an eponymous district and division. Built on the banks of the Karnaphuli River, the city is home to Bangladesh's busiest seaport and has a population of over 4.5 million, making it the second largest city in the country.A trading...
where he made 55 in the first innings and a quickfire 27 from 16 balls in the second helped set up England's match-winning declaration. He also picked up three wickets, returning a notable analysis
Bowling analysis
In the sport of cricket, a bowling analysis usually refers to a notation summarising a bowler's performance in terms of overs bowled, how many of those overs are maidens , total runs conceded and number of wickets taken...
of 7-4-7-2 in the Bangladeshis'
Bangladeshi cricket team
The Bangladesh national cricket team is a national cricket team representing Bangladesh. The team is administered by the Bangladesh Cricket Board . Bangladesh is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status...
first innings. He played in only the first of the ODIs against Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan cricket team
The Sri Lankan cricket team is the national cricket team of Sri Lanka. The team first played international cricket in 1926–27, and were later awarded Test status in 1981, which made Sri Lanka the eighth Test cricket playing nation...
, a disastrous ten-wicket defeat, and was not selected for any other international games on that tour.
At the end of that winter, England toured the West Indies, and Clarke was picked for five of the seven ODIs. He failed completely, not reaching double figures in any of his four innings and taking 3-108 from the 18 overs he was allowed. By the time the tour finally finished in early May, Clarke's international career looked in serious jeopardy, but he was given one more chance by injuries to Flintoff and Marcus Trescothick
Marcus Trescothick
Marcus Edward Trescothick MBE is an English cricketer. He plays first-class cricket for Somerset County Cricket Club, and represented England in 76 Test matches and 123 One Day Internationals. A left-handed opening batsman, he made his first-class debut for Somerset in 1993 and quickly established...
early in the summer of 2004. Clarke was included for the Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
ODI against the West Indians
West Indian cricket team
The West Indian cricket team, also known colloquially as the West Indies or the Windies, is a multi-national cricket team representing a sporting confederation of 15 mainly English-speaking Caribbean countries, British dependencies and non-British dependencies.From the mid 1970s to the early 1990s,...
, but another failure (conceding 30 runs from four overs) followed, and the selectors had seen enough: Clarke was dropped and has not played for England since.
He enjoyed a better 2005, however, and earned a trip to the Academy.
However, in 2006 his luck changed. After averaging 64.66 [including a career best 214] he was drafted into England's one-day squad to play Pakistan. Despite a decent 39 in difficult conditions at Lords he failed with the bat only scoring 45 runs in 3 matches. Like in the West Indies he bowled poorly, overall conceding 64 runs of 10.5 overs with only 1 wicket. He was included in the 2006 Champions Trophy but did not play. He also failed to make the England 'A' tour.
Thought to be a big talent, Clarke has so far failed to perform to the level expected by his admirers.