SYDNEY – Michael Clarke was appointed Australia’s Test and one-day captain on Wednesday, a day after Ricky Ponting bowed to pressure and quit after the country’s World Cup exit. Long seen as heir-apparent, the stylish batsman, who turns 30 on Saturday, will jump into the role immediately, leaving this week for a tour of Bangladesh.
Ponting will also be on the plane, taking orders from his former deputy, after being named in the squad to play three one-dayers. Shane Watson will be Clarke’s vice-captain with Cameron White remaining the Twenty20 skipper. “First of all can I say what an honour it is to be named captain and also a huge surprise to see Ricky stand down,” Clarke said at a press conference.
“I was very much unaware of where he was at and didn’t know he was going to stand down. It was a huge surprise to me.
“I know Ricky will allow me to do my job to the best of my ability,” he added. “We want to be the best team in all forms and that is going to take time.” His Test reign will start in August when he skippers a tour of Sri Lanka. Clarke, though, is not popular with Australian fans, and polls published Wednesday showed how cool the public are to him.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, only 26 percent of 21,000 respondents in an online poll favoured him to be the new captain. In the Sydney Daily Telegraph, a survey of 8,500 readers placed him a distant third behind Shane Watson and Michael Hussey. Ponting insisted Clarke was the right man for the job, and vowed to give him all the support he needed.
