Hot property

Stuart Clark is trying to downgrade his previous life as a real estate agent from a full-time job to a hobby, but even though he made his one-day international debut this month it's proving tricky. On reaching his voicemail the message is still one of a suited professional more interested in sales than bowling figures, and a couple of hours after the New South Wales season launch he is helping his almost namesake Michael Clarke find a new address in southern Sydney.

A late international bloomer, Clark, 30, has made impressive use of his spare time and is also adding a commerce-law degree to his real-estate license. However, studying and text-book learning have become more difficult as his playing commitments have increased and last semester he managed only one subject by correspondence. Not that he's complaining. In the past three months he's had viewings with New South Wales, Middlesex, Australia A and Australia.

August was the first of his boom periods when Glenn McGrath, his occasional New South Wales team-mate and the bowler his action is most-often compared to, turned his ankle and the Ashes at Edgbaston. Playing for Middlesex, Clark initially ignored the call to his mobile that would shortly send him up the M1 to Old Trafford as cover for the next Test, and since then he has been floating in, out and around the national squads waiting for a vacancy.

"You never feel an outsider," he said of his stop-start relationship with the team. "I know the guys from playing against them, but it still takes time. If you make the effort you're fine. With me, working and trying to sell houses and building relationships, if you can't trust me you're not going to let me sell your house. It helps having dealt with people through work."

McGrath provided the first opening during the second Super Series ODI and Clark's fast-mediums were greeted by a rampant combination of Chris Gayle and Kumar Sangakkara. Three overs were quickly blasted for 25. "There were butterflies as I ran in but once I got there it was a buzz," he said. "There was a lot at stake and they came out swinging. It was a good challenge and in those situations there are really only two things you can do: run off the field or stand up."

Clark's 197cm frame remained tall and firmer than in previous seasons when he was troubled by various leg, stomach and chest injuries. Returning later in the innings, he collected the wickets of Kevin Pietersen and Shaun Pollock and 2 for 55 from nine overs. The performance was enough to send him to Sydney for the Super Test, and although he wasn't named in the official party he prepared like he was playing. "I was in the squad until the day before and the decision relied on whether they picked two spinners or three quicks," he says. "At that stage I was preparing to play in an attack of McGrath, Lee, Watson, Warne and myself."

Two legspinners were preferred and providing he remains in squad favour, Clark will be a key subject in similar team debates throughout the summer. Another one will occur this week as Trevor Hohns, the chairman of selectors, asks more questions of balance for the first Test against West Indies at the Gabba from November 3. The squad will be announced on Thursday and Clark is waiting for his next posting.

"I'm not sure what they're thinking, but if I'm in the team that's great, if not I'll stay in state cricket," he says. "If I get wickets they can't not consider me." Last season Clark picked up 40 at 24.77 for New South Wales and a season spent defending the Pura Cup he raised at the Gabba in March is an appealing back-up option.

"When we won in 2002-03 we didn't have a great year the next season," he says. "We've worked harder this time, although there have been guys in Pakistan with Australia A and in England with counties, and the Australia guys will play only the first match [against South Australia starting on Tuesday]. It's been hard getting the guys together, but we got together."

The Clark family also has a strong background in itinerancy and Stuart has chosen a suitable industry in cricket. Both his parents came from British families but were born in India - his father in Madras; his mother also in southern India - and didn't meet until returning to England as young adults. In the early 1970s they moved to Australia and Clark was born in Sydney in 1975. "I've got no links with India apart from that," he says. That could change if he makes a national impact and becomes part of the post-McGrath era.

"As long as I'm bowling well I'm going to be happy," he says. "If that happens I've got the opportunity to get wickets and I may well be an [international] option." Cricket is currently disrupting his studies and he hopes it does for a few more years. It beats selling property, even if it's a difficult field to escape.