Golden boy grows up

In the winter Michael Clarke added a smart tattoo to his left forearm. Don't be concerned, he's not going through a mid-life crisis. There's no new fast car or a plan to copy Michael Slater's reckless batting. The message Carpe Diem, scrawled thickly but neatly on his skin, is not to show his love of Latin but acts instead as an unwashable reminder. All he needs now is an Ashes day to seize.

During Clarke's Test introduction his exuberant grip clenched around the game with spectacular home-and-away debut centuries. He knew his control would loosen and the form slump would arrive, but he did not expect the highs to be such striking peaks and the lows to be so deep. An Allan Border Medallist on one starry night, he was dropped for failing against England and West Indies in the same year. Since then he's been starved of first-class action and submerged in the one-day order.

Lack of opportunities combined with the rise of Shane Watson to oust Clarke from the original Test unit, which he had re-entered in Bangladesh in April. Rather than getting bitter, he remained upbeat and arrived in the team through the backdoor on Tuesday when Watson was ruled out with a hamstring injury.

At the squad's first training session on Monday he was still on standby. He said he hadn't scored enough runs and didn't deserve a spot. The tempo of his voice was calm. He even cracked a joke about his lack of results. The situation might not have been ideal, but he wasn't weighed down by it. It showed Clarke had grown up. Australia's golden child has entered cricketing middle age.

Off the field Clarke has shown impressive maturity and the sensible head that is missing when he considers an aggressive downswing to a ball requiring non-negotiable defence. While he struggled to turn starts into something significant in England in 2005, Clarke was also sitting at Shane Warne's side and offering support. The 24-year-old novice was listening and counselling the worldly 36-year-old as he dissected the breakdown of the long-term marriage.

In Cardiff it was Clarke who woke Andrew Symonds by pouring water over his head and dragging him into the shower after his pre-Bangladesh bender. Less than a year later in a Cape Town nightclub, Clarke was again the sound reason as Symonds was threatening his career by being caught in a heated argument with a Cheetahs Super 14 rugby player. Seize the friend, save the day. Clarke's a valuable man to have in Australia's corner.

Of course good extra-curricular deeds don't translate into steady run-scoring. They don't guarantee places in squads and it was Watson's injury that allowed Clarke an opening. As he waited for news on Watson, Clarke considered the past 18 months. "With age and with time you learn about your own game," he says. "My preparation is much better than it was. I've just got to bide my time and when I get a chance I have to grab it."

At the beginning of his career everything happened in a hurry. Now he has learned to adjust to a slower pace. "Whether I'm scoring runs or not, I accept things now," he says. "Before it was real highs and real lows, now I realise it's just a game. I've got to expect there will be times when you fail. When you're doing well you have to make the most of it."

Slight technical alterations were achieved during the off-season and he has a genuine desire to play straight early in the innings rather than to think about it and then submit to his aggressive instincts. He has worked on balance to avoid his head leading his body towards the off-side and some unplanned knee flexes have been added to his bat tapping.

In Australia's first training session of the week he launched a string of straight sixes off a batch of junior slow men before refocussing. They are not shots that will regain the Ashes.

"It's always in the back of my mind that I lost my first Ashes series and I'd love another chance to be part of winning the series," he said. "It's Australia's biggest series for a long time. The guys just want to get out and play. Given the chance it would be very special."

Clarke first learned of Carpe Diem when watching Robin Williams lecture his school students in the movie Dead Poet's Society. A sweatband will cover most of the tattoo when he bats, but the message is already inscribed in his mind. He's just waiting for a chance to follow the advice.