Stuart Clark is angry. Really, he is!

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You have to feel for Stuart Clark. He's one of those blend-into-the-background type of characters in an Australian cricket culture where it's almost a sin to be laid back. You have to be aggressive, belligerent, preferably with your shirt unbuttoned down to your navel Dennis Lillee style. Clark's easy going demeanour may have played a small part in his omission from the World Cup squad - he just doesn't possess the mongrel the selectors were looking for. However, he's attempting to rebrand himself as the next DK:

"He claims to have a temper. His evidence is weak, buried in hazy tales of red cards on soccer fields as a teenager, or snippets of on-field abuse that fellow players cannot recall. He says he can unleash a rage that "just comes flying out", but no one seems to have witnessed it.

Clark alleges that he is impatient. This, too, rings hollow. He took almost a decade to break into the Test team last March. He was 30, an age when fast bowlers' spines creak and crack from years of twisting and jarring. He had appeared doomed to miss out. He had never been anointed as the next big thing. He had projected no aura of entitlement, boasted no cheer squads or flashes of glamour. Despite the sheer bastardry of the outcome, it seems Clark was easy to drop when the World Cup squad was announced on Tuesday.

Clark's argument is further undermined by his response to being left out of the World Cup squad:

"He admitted he would be 'devastated' to miss out. But if he did, he would be freed up to complete an extra subject for his commerce degree at the University of Sydney, which he undertook to qualify for a law degree."

No, you're not fooling anyone, Stuey. However, I wouldn't despair. Australian players are dropping like flies at the moment so perhaps quiet patience is all that's required to get back into the World Cup squad.

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Posted by JC on Sat 17 Feb

4 comments

Stuey should change his first name to "Brad" if he wants to get into the team. There are 3 Brads in the team right now: haddin, hodge, hogg.
Let me take that back...Stuart Clark should change his name to Brad H(something)...yes, that's the ticket.

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Posted by Mephistopheles on 2007-02-18 05:47:30

Or maybe Shane. To be more precise, Shane W.

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Posted by jethro on 2007-02-18 06:49:45

What he really needs is a good nickname. I'm concerned about the growing trend of bland nicknames in the Australian team. Michael Clarke now going by Clarkey? Hussey as Huss. Gilchrist as Gilly. It's just not up to scratch!

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Posted by JC on 2007-02-18 09:00:36

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