Clarke takes heed of Lara advice

Michael Clarke has acknowledged the support he received from Brian Lara during the tough times as he looked ahead to the Champions Trophy title clash against West Indies on Sunday.

"He's been very helpful and is a great friend of mine," said Clarke after Australia's practice session at the Cricket Club of India (CCI). "When I got dropped from the Test team, we were playing West Indies at that time. He was there for that. He was very supportive as he has been since I made my debut, since my first tour to the West Indies. We get along very well. We talk a bit outside the cricket arena. We are pretty good friends.

"While I was in Australia, I had a chance to catch up with him a fair bit even though I was dropped from the Test team. As friends do, you talk about cricket obviously. He said that now that you have been dropped, it is important to go back to first-class cricket and make sure you stand up and be counted.

"He asked me to be the one scoring as many runs as you can. Not just getting 50s and 70s, but scoring big hundreds and selectors won't be able to take their eyes off you. And they will have to re-pick you."

Clarke secretly hoped that Lara wouldn't get too many in the final but emphasised the amount he'd picked up from watching Lara bat. "Anytime you get a chance to play against great players, you obviously don't want them to get too many runs against you. But while they are batting, you can watch and learn and see how they go about their job. I look forward to playing against him. I look forward to playing against the West Indies team. They are playing good cricket at the moment."

Fortunately for Clarke, he'll walk out onto the field with a number of greats as well. "All the young guys in this squad and in the Test squad are very lucky because we have some great players in the squad," he explained. "In our team, any opportunity you get to play cricket with them or be around them can only help you as a young cricketer. Being part of this Australian team, I am very lucky.

"It is important to maximise your time with those guys - Glenn McGrath, Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne and Matthew Hayden in the Test team. These guys have been very successful for such a long time. So I guess, if you can't learn off them, you will never learn."

While admitting that West Indies would go into the game with tremendous confidence, after their thumping semi-final win, Clarke didn't think there was much to choose between the two sides. "West Indies played fantastic cricket in the first game [against Australia]," he added. "They played really well and we could not chase the runs down.

"But I think we are in good stead at the moment. The last two games, we played brilliant. We had two very good wins. All the boys are looking forward to our first final of the ICC Champions Trophy. We have never won this tournament. It is a pretty big tournament. Hopefully, we will play better than the West Indies and win the game."