A batsman of great talent and enormous ambition, Michael Clarke emerged in Australia's golden years, was with them through the troughs that followed, and eventually led them back to the No.1 Test ranking. At his peak Clarke was ranked the best Test batsman in the world, testament not only to his skill but his hard work in overcoming a chronic back injury that caused him progressively more trouble as his career advanced. Also an intuitive, aggressive captain, Clarke took over from Ricky Ponting in 2011 and while the team did not always run harmoniously during his tenure, he was at the helm for an Ashes whitewash in 2013-14 and a World Cup triumph in 2015. His retirement came at the end of a lost Ashes campaign in England in 2015, but he could be satisfied with a career punctuated by fine achievements.

As a young man Clarke could do anything with the bat, but he matured into one of the game's most professional, reliable and focussed players. A year into his Test career he learnt that he had to shed the flourishes that made him a golden child in order to shine consistently at elite level. Breathtaking centuries on debut away and at home stamped him as a shot-maker to savour, but his method in later years was to find gaps by caressing the ball along the ground. In the field his throw was as fast and accurate as anything in the game, and he could winkle out batsmen with his disarming left-arm spin.

Mostly he became known for his immaculate driving and slicing of the ball through impossible angles. His peak year was 2012, which brought 1595 runs at 106.33 and stamped him as the most in-form batsman in the world. The year began with a monumental 329 not out against India at the SCG and continued with 210 in Adelaide, where he joined Wally Hammond and Don Bradman as the only men to score a triple-century and a double-hundred in the same series. Later in the year came back-to-back double-centuries against South Africa in Brisbane and Adelaide. There seemed little he could not do.

But the team harmony disintegrated on the tour of India that followed in 2013, when Clarke and coach Mickey Arthur suspended four players in what became known as the homework saga. The Ashes series in England was then lost, but Clarke's Australians regained the urn with a 5-0 clean sweep in Australia at the end of the year. Clarke's gutsy century in Cape Town in 2014, completed with a broken shoulder thanks to a bouncer barrage from Morne Morkel, led to Australia's return to No.1, if only temporarily. Later in the year a statesmanlike Clarke led the country in mourning the death of his close friend Phillip Hughes, and an emotional century in Adelaide followed in what Clarke called the most important match of his career.

Although Clarke's ability and dedication could never be questioned, he nevertheless struggled at times to win over sections of the public, due in part to his A-list celebrity status, large endorsements and high-profile private life. There were occasions when he was booed in his own country, and at times he was accused of being too aloof around the team environment. But whatever his off-field status, Clarke will be remembered as a batsman of class and a captain who took the game on, and emerged with an enviable record in both spheres.

• January 19, 2003
  An early, promising start
  • Makes his ODI debut as a 21-year-old in the 2002-03 VB Series, keeps his head when four wickets go down for eight runs to steer Australia to victory over England in Adelaide.
    
• May 21, 2003
  International cricket remains easy
  • Picks up the Man-of-the-Match award in only his second one-dayer for an assured, unbeaten 75 and three vital catches against West Indies in St Lucia, to help extend Australian winning streak to 20 ODIs.
    
• November 18, 2003
  Remarkable rise continues
  • Adds to his burgeoning reputation with a solid one-day tri-series in India, culminating in a Man-of-the-Match performance in the final in Kolkata. He thrashes a 28-ball 44 before his two middle-order strikes suck the momentum out of the Indian chase.
    
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• October 6-10, 2004
  A star is born
  • Already deemed a future captain and owner of the biggest sports-sponsorship deal in Australian cricket, he make a magical entry to Test cricket. In the first Test of the high-pressure series against India, he makes a dazzling 151 to swing the match Australia's way.
    
• November 3-5, 2004
  Allrounder Clarke?
  • Rounds off his first Test series with mind-boggling figures of 6 for 9 with his left-arm spin on a rank turner in Mumbai. It's still not enough to hand Australia victory in a game that lasted little more than 200 overs.
    
• November 18-21, 2004
  Boy with the Midas touch
  • Australian audiences are treated to another stunning century by their boy wonder in his first home Test. Against New Zealand in Brisbane, he strokes a sublime 141 to revive Australia from 128 for 4.
    
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• January 14 - February 6, 2005
  The highest Australian accolade
  • No batting challenge is too hard for Clarke at this stage - he is a success as a makeshift opener in the 2004-05 VB series, ending up as the highest run-getter. Along the way, he collects the 2005 Allan Border medal.
    
• July 21-24, 2005
  An Ashes debut to remember
  • After a rough spell in the Tests in New Zealand earlier in the year, returns to form with a pivotal second-innings 91 in his first Ashes match, at Lord's. It's the highest score of the Test, and sets Australia up for a 1-0 lead in the memorable series.
    
• November 21, 2005
  End of the joyride for the golden boy
  • Just ten months after everything seemed to be going his way, he is axed from the squad for the third Test against West Indies. It follows a poor Ashes campaign, and increasing questions over the solidity of his technique.
    
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• April 8, 2006
  Bangladesh recall
  • He slams 395 runs in the two Pura Cup matches following his sacking from the national side, but the selectors ignore him for the home-and-away Test series against South Africa, before recalling him for the Bangladesh tour.
    
• November 23 - December 18, 2006
  Cementing Test spot again
  • After a shaky series against Bangladesh, Clarke makes himself indispensable again with a 56 and a pair of centuries in the first three Tests of the Ashes as Australia go on to whitewash England for the first time in 86 years.
    
• March 13-April 28, 2007
  A cruise in the Caribbean
  • Is a vital part of a dominant Australia in the West Indies, where they collect their third consecutive World Cup victory after an unbeaten run in the tournament. Clarke piles on 436 runs at 87.20, the best average among the top 10 run-getters.
    
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• November 8-12, 2007
  Crushing Sri Lanka
  • In the lead-up to the Brisbane Test against Sri Lanka, both former coach John Buchanan and captain Ricky Ponting again call him a future long-term captain. Clarke responds with a mature, unbeaten 145 that buries the visitors.
    
• December 5, 2007
  A glimpse of the future
  • Clarke captains Australia for the first time, promoted ahead of Adam Gilchrist and Michael Hussey after Rick Ponting opts out of the Twenty20 against New Zealand in Perth.
    
• January 2-6, 2008
  The golden arm returns
  • Flops with the bat, managing only 1 and 0 in the controversial Sydney Test against India, but still wins the game for Australia by nipping out three wickets in five deliveries to finish off the game with only six minutes remaining.
    
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• May 30-June3, 2008
  An emotional return
  • After spending two months out of cricket attending to his ailing father and helping his fiancée cope with her father's death, Clarke returns in his first Test as regular vice-captain to make a fluent 110 against West Indies in Antigua.
    
• August 30-September 6, 2008
  A test for Captain Clarke
  • Clarke had already led Australia in the odd Twenty20 and one-dayer, but the short visit by the Bangladeshis is his first full series at the helm. Australia roundly thrash the visitors in each of the three ODIs, but Clarke's biggest challenge comes at the start of the series when dealing with an indisciplined Andrew Symonds.
    
• October 29-November 2, 2008
  Battling for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy
  • India's batting might had loosened Australia's grip on the Border-Gavaskar trophy, but Clarke's battling century in the third Test in Delhi gave Australia a chance of heading into the final Test with still an opportunity to draw the series and take the trophy.
    
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• November 20-December 1, 2008
  Cashing in against New Zealand
  • More responsible batting from Clarke, first a 98 in the opening Test in Brisbane in an innings where no else scores more than 35, followed by a 110 that helps Australia to a massive first-innings lead in the second Test in Adelaide.
    
• December 17, 2008-January 7, 2009
  Purple patch continues
  • Australia lose their first home series in 16 years to South Africa, but not because of a lack of runs from Clarke, who finishes with a series-high 383 runs at 76.60, including a century and a pair of fifties.
    
• February 3, 2009
  Another Allan Border medal
  • After a year in which he recaptured the form of his first season in international cricket, Clarke collects his second Allan Border medal, sharing it with his captain Ricky Ponting.
    
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• February 6, 2009
  Scuffle with Katich
  • It's revealed that Clarke and Katich were involved in a dressing-room altercation after the Sydney Test against South Africa in January. Both men are quick to play down the incident, and say that both have moved on and back on talking terms.
    
• July 8-August 23, 2009
  Runs but no Ashes
  • Makes amends for his poor performance during his first Ashes tour in 2005, with two second-innings hundreds and a pair of 80-plus scores to top Australia's run-charts but the urn eludes him and Ricky Ponting's side in England again.
    
• September 29, 2009
  Back injury flares up again
  • His long-term back problem returns, forcing him to miss the ICC Champions Trophy, the inaugural Champions League and the one-day series against India.
    
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• October 16, 2009
  Another step to the top
  • Cricket Australia make the widely expected announcement that Clarke will be the full-time Twenty20 leader of the national team after Ricky Ponting retires from the format.
    
• March 30, 2011
  Test captaincy, at last
  • After Australia's horrendous Ashes campaign at home in 2010-11, Clarke takes over as Test captain for the tour of Sri Lanka.
    
• November 9-11, 2011
  Fantastic hundred, depressing result
  • Clarke's finest Test hundred, an outstanding 151 out of a team total of 284 in Cape Town, is only a precursor to a shocking second-innings collapse, as Australia crumble to 47 and lose the Test after taking a 188-run first-innings lead. For Clarke the captain, it's a bitter result early in his captaincy stint.
    
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• January 5, 2012
  New year, new landmark
  • Clarke becomes only the third Australian captain, after Bob Simpson and Mark Taylor, to score a Test triple-century. His unbeaten 329 is also the highest Test score in Sydney, and it helps Australia thrash India by an innings and 68 runs.
    
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