Ben Fordham swipes Michael Clarke over return to the airwaves following Noosa scandal
Michael Clarke has been torn apart by Ben Fordham over one moment from his return to the airwaves on Monday.
Cricket great Michael Clarke has been torn to shreds by 2GB radio host Ben Fordham over his refusal to delve into details of his infamous Noosa altercation with girlfriend Jade Yarbrough in his return to radio with Big Sports Breakfast on Monday morning.
Appearing for the first time this year alongside co-hosts Gerard Middleton and Laurie Daley, Clarke was largely spoken for by Middleton, who declared the show wouldn’t be delving into the issue.
“Now of course enormous fascination into Clarkey’s life and we are just hitting this on the head straight away,” Middleton said.
“It is a private matter that Clarkey’s obviously been dealing with, a very, very private matter which unfortunately was made public.
“There’s a lot of factors in play here and Clarkey’s made his statement last week and due to all the factors in play we are moving forward on The Big Sports Breakfast this morning.”
However, Middleton couldn’t resist asking Clarke about the hamstring injury he sustained outside a Noosa restaurant on January 10, with vision of the incident showing the 41-year-old limping badly.
“I want to ask you, you showed us before that bruise on your hamstring, that is incredible mate,” Middleton said.
“You won’t be able to walk properly for weeks.”
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Clarke, who endured a devastating run of hamstring and back injuries during his playing career, blew off the injury, saying it was fine and that his focus was only on the show ahead.
“Nah it’s fine buddy, it’s on the mend, I’m good to go, I’m ready, game day, good to go, on the mend,” Clarke said.
Speaking on 2BG Sydney later in the morning, Fordham criticised Clarke over his weak response to the matter after it was claimed the cricket great would address the matter in his return to the airwaves.
“Michael Clarke was on radio this morning and we had heard from journalists covering the story that he was likely going to address the incident but there was silence from the former Test captain,” Fordham said.
“Clarkey had nothing to say, how cowardly can you get, I mean he’s got a microphone in front of him, he’s sitting in a radio studio, it’s the story everyone’s talking about and Clarkey squibs it.
“Clarkey, you wuss.”
Clarke had earlier announced he had enjoyed a good summer break, but was looking forward to getting back into work, even despite the 4am alarms.
“Good morning lads. Good morning to our listeners. Yep, a good break,” Clarke said.
“Five weeks is a long time. A lot of sleep-ins. Was nice to sleep past 4am, but nice to be back.”
He then went on to discuss Australia’s summer of cricket, describing the Test series’ against West Indies and South Africa as sub-par while praising Australia’s performance.
“I thought the Aussies were brilliant but South Africa’s batting was what I was worried about I thought they were really poor, and then once Australia got on a roll, in these conditions we just got used to the pace of South Africa,” Clarke said on Monday.
“I thought South Africa’s bowling attack was good but Australia used their speed to our advantage on very good batting wickets
“But I thought South Africa’s batting was nowhere near good enough against Australia’s bowlers but I think the Aussies deserve a lot of credit for how they played.”
Clarke said he had long held fears that South Africa would crumble in Australia given “their lack of experience batting in these conditions.”
He also revealed he had recently been approached to commentate on the upcoming Pakistan Super League T20 competition, days after it emerged he was in danger of losing his six-figure commentary gig for Australia’s upcoming tour of India.
Clarke later had to fend off some cheeky questioning from veteran Daily Telegraph reporter Phil ‘Buzz’ Rothfield, a regular on the program.
“Clarkey I’ve got a lot of questions to ask you, am I allowed to?,” Rothfield said.
Clarke replied: “I’ll probably have no answers for you but go for your life.”
Rothfield continued: “Well, how was Noosa? No I better not ... I was going to put my journo’s cap on and make a few enquiries but ... are you OK?
Clarke replied “I’m good thanks buddy” and the conversation moved on.
The former batting superstar’s radio comments represented his first public statements since he apologised for the drama last Wednesday, telling The Daily Telegraph: “I accept full responsibility for this altercation and am shattered by my actions.”
His apology came after dramatic vision emerged of his girlfriend Jade Yarbrough accusing him of cheating on her with his celebrity fashion designer ex-girlfriend Pip Edwards.
You can watch the video of the incident here.
Clarke can be heard continually denying the claim in the footage, with his partner seen slapping him across the face at one point during the screaming match.
It’s understood Edwards and Yarbrough had been in contact, sparking the confrontation with Clarke.
Today Show host Karl Stefanovic and his partner Jasmine Yarbrough, sister to Jade, were also present during the fracas.
On Saturday Clarke and Jade Yarbrough were fined for public nuisance by Queensland Police after officers investigated the footage.
“No other offences were detected during the investigation,” police told news.com.au.
“There is no further information available, and the investigation has been finalised.”
Clarke represented Australia in 115 Test matches and 245 ODIs after making his international debut in 2003.
The right-hander scored 8643 Test runs, including 28 centuries and a career-best 329 not out against India at the SCG in 2012.
He captained Australia to their 2013/14 Ashes whitewash and 2015 World Cup victory.
A spokesman for Tabcorp, the company that owns Sky Sports Radio, producers of the Big Sports Breakfast, told news.com.au “the company doesn’t comment on the personal matters of its employees”.
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