From pinnacle to purgatory

Two hours after Australia wrapped up the Frank Worrell trophy Michael Clarke scuffed around the Bellerive Oval outfield with a mobile phone stuck to his ear. The conversation was a bad one. After 20 Tests as the country's brightest prospect since Ricky Ponting he had suffered the same fate as his captain nine summers earlier.

Australia's selectors have rediscovered their cold and calculating manner since the Ashes loss and Clarke will feel unlucky about the decision, just as Ponting did when he was cut two games after being promoted to No. 3 in 1996-97. The situation seemed impossible a year ago but Clarke has misread the signs that have been flashing since he struggled with the moving ball on the New Zealand tour in March. Although his potential is unrivalled he was fortunate to last this long.

The problem with his batting once he replaced the unfortunate Damien Martyn at No. 4 was not necessarily the way he got out but how he played before the dismissals. Rather than settle in with pushes he has charged with hard hands in the hope of a flurry of pressure-bursting boundaries. He slashed a four through gully with no footwork at Brisbane before edging Corey Collymore and at Bellerive Oval on Saturday he thumped a short ball to point. Both times he fell for 5, leaving without an understanding of the pace, the conditions or the bowling attack. Tough runs never looked like an option.

When he arrived on the Test scene last October everything he touched turned to energising runs and he filled local supporters with genuine excitement. Two centuries in his first five Tests forced opposition teams to limit loose balls early in his innings and expectation hung to him like Caribbean jewellery. Well meaning advice was dismissed and criticism deflected as he favoured sticking to his own game. It is a difficult balance, especially for a young player, but the results have not been deceiving.

Clarke's next step is the hardest and Ponting spoke today of the danger in returning to state cricket with the tunnel-visioned desire to stack loads of runs and return to the Test circus immediately. It didn't work for Ponting and it is unlikely to be a success for Clarke. He can look at any position in the Australian order apart from Adam Gilchrist's No. 7 for advice on how to cope with similar setbacks.

Nobody is suggesting a massive overhaul - Steve Waugh has suggested only a tightening of technique - and nobody wants Clarke to lose the spark that diverted parents from mowing lawns and their children from the Playstation. What he needs to do now is tame his early-innings surges whether he is plundering a state attack or walking out on a suburban oval for a grade game.

Watching his small steps while chatting on the mobile today and recalling his dramatic fall were sad moments. Like the Waughs, Ponting, Slater et al, Clarke has the ability to readjust and become the great player everybody expects. First he must accept things have gone wrong. The dismissal from the Test team is a signal that cannot be ignored.