Former Test cricket captain Michael Clarke approached to captain or coach PM’s XI side next year

MICHAEL Clarke has revealed he’s been asked by Cricket Australia to either captain or coach the Prime Minister’s XI side next year against Sri Lanka.

Michael Clarke pictured with Jennifer Hawkins at the Hublot function on Thursday night.

MICHAEL Clarke has revealed he’s been asked by Cricket Australia to either captain or coach the Prime Minister’s XI side next year against Sri Lanka.

The former Test skipper says he has no plans to go into coaching, but is in discussions about the one-off opportunity to lead some of the country’s best young players in the annual PM’s match at Manuka Oval in February.

Clarke was speaking on Thursday night at a 10-year anniversary celebration in Sydney for the All Black watch by Hublot, the watch brand he is an ambassador for, and backed Shane Warne for the temporary Australian Twenty20 coaching role for three internationals against Sri Lanka.

There is no interest from Clarke to throw his hat into the ring for that job, however, he has been approached by CA high performance boss Pat Howard to make a PM’s appearance against the tourists in a Twenty20 match under lights in the nation’s capital.

Last year Mike Hussey skippered a PM’s side featuring Test players Joe Burns, Usman Khawaja, Peter Siddle and Ashton Agar, and Clarke is considering a cameo return to the Australian cricket landscape in either the coaching box or on the field as captain.

“I’ll speak to Pat about it and make a decision,” Clarke said.

“They’ve asked me to do it (either captain or coach) and I’m happy to help them any way I can.

“It would be a one-off just to help the boys out more than anything. I don’t have any ambitions to coach at this stage, I’ve only just got out of the game from playing and I’m really happy with where I’m at and what I’m doing.

Michael Clarke pictured with Jennifer Hawkins at the Hublot function on Thursday night.

“I think Warney would do a great job as Twenty20 coach though, definitely. If they wanted to split the roles and get a full-time T20 coach I think Warney would be unbelievable.”

Clarke played down the explosive comments from former South African counterpart Graeme Smith which questioned Australian team culture during his tenure and also put the heat on current captain Steve Smith, as typical rhetoric for when a side is under the pump.

According to Clarke, the trying start to this Test summer could be his successor’s making as a long-term captain.

During his time in charge of the baggy green Clarke steered Australia back from the depths of No.5 in the world to No.1 and he believes Smith can do the same.

“I think this is the making of your leadership as well,” he said.

“If you can turn things around and if you can take your team from not performing as well as you’d like and get them back to their best, that’s your goal as captain. I know that will excite Smithy and I think this could be the making of his captaincy.

“I think, Smithy’s batting has been outstanding and this is probably the first time in his captaincy he’s felt a bit of this pressure. If he continues to lead the way with the bat and continues to do his best that’s all you can ask for from someone.

“When you’re playing you experience past players whether they’re from your country or other countries having their opinion and they’ve earned that. Graeme Smith was a fantastic player, led South Africa over a long period of time and he had success as captain. I respect that he’s entitled to his opinion.

“It’s about the group sticking together and now rallying around each other to build confidence from within because that’s what matters right now.”