Botham warns critics ‘quality player’ Clarke will soon be over his ‘rough patch’
By ANIFriday, January 28, 2011
MELBOURNE - Former England all-rounder Ian Botham reckons that the current spate of criticism of stand-in Australian captain Michael Clarke is unfair.
Botham said that Clarke’s position in the team for the World Cup and beyond should not be questioned.
“He’s having a rough patch with the bat, but he’s not the first captain to go through a lean period,” Fox Sports quoted Botham, as saying.
“His captaincy has been very good in this one-day series and he’s a quality player who’ll come good.”
“For some reason, he has his critics and Australian fans need to cut him some breathing space and support the guy,” he added.
Clarke averaged 34.7 in the winter Test series against Pakistan, 8.75 across two Tests in the following Border-Gavaskar Trophy in India, and then 21.5 in the five-Test Ashes series against England this summer.
The 29-year-old has made only 70 runs at an average of 17.50 in four ODIs of the ongoing seven-match series against England. (ANI)
