Annette Sharp: Michael Clarke denies heated exchange at Rose Bay restaurant

Michael Clarke has denied having an angry exchange with a fellow diner at an eastern suburbs eatery on Friday, but a witness says the ex-cricketer had to be calmed down by a mate. SEE THE PICTURE

Retired Australian cricketer Michael Clarke on Saturday denied being involved in an angry exchange with a fellow diner at Rose Bay restaurant The Boatshed on Friday afternoon.

An eye witness told The Sunday Telegraph Clarke, who recently confirmed he and celebrity mate Anthony Bell has saved a man’s life after his yacht capsized, had to be taken aside by a friend and calmed down after locking horns with another man at the restaurant.

On Saturday, Clarke confirmed he was at The Boatshed on Friday – “with two mates I train with at the gym” – but denied there was any dispute or any cross words exchanged.

Michael Clarke and an unnamed man at The Boatshed in Rose Bay on Friday. Picture: Supplied

“I had a ball yesterday. I definitely wouldn’t have been aggressive,” he said, “100 per cent. No chance.

“(Ex-wife) Kyly came past with my daughter. I had an awesome time.”

Clarke is dad to daughter Kelsey and has shareds parenting with his ex-wife Kyly Clarke since their marriage broke down in a amicable split.

The former cricketer added that the lunch had been the first time he’d ventured out since the death of former teammate Shane Warne two weeks earlier.

“Because of the Warnie stuff, I’ve been a bit down,” he explained.

Clarke gave media interviews in the wake of his former teammate’s death, crying on breakfast television while speaking of the shock of Warne’s passing at 52.

There was no sign of his on-again, off-again partner, PE Nation founder Pip Edwards, despite rumours towards the end of last year that they had rekindled their high-profile relationship.

Clarke and Kyly announced their marriage split in February 2020.

The pair have always been open about how they prioritise and share the raising of their much-loved daughter, who was four when they seperated.

“The one thing Kyly and I will always do is prioritise our little girl,” an emotional Clarke said in 2020.

“Kyly is a great mother. When you see our little girl, you see the way Kelsey-Lee is, that’s because of her mum, there is no doubt about it.”

Clarke played 115 Tests and 245 one-day internationals for Australia before retiring in 2015 and said in 2020 he would have given up professional cricket if Kelsey-Lee had arrived when he was playing.

“When KL was born, I had only just retired and I knew it at the time, and I am 100 per cent certain now, I wouldn’t have been able to travel that much with my little girl,” he said.

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