Michael Clarke confirms retirement after Ashes humiliation

Time looked to be running out for Clarke after he failed again with the bat on Friday as his team slid towards a humiliating Ashes defeat.

The Australian newspaper said on Saturday Clarke had been told there would be no place for him in the side after the fifth Test at the Oval and so he had decided to retire from Test cricket.

Then Cricket Australia confirmed the news after Australia slumped to an innings defeat and lost the Ashes.

Clarke said: "I'll have one more Test and that will be the end of my career. I'm retiring from international cricket. I certainly don't want to jump ship and leave the boys now, so I'll play the last Test at The Oval, give it one last crack, but the time is right now.

"You never want to walk away from the game but I think my performances in this series and the last 12 months have not been acceptable to me. I pride myself on leading from the front, so that's been disappointing. You build yourself up for the big series, the big tournaments. One-day cricket is about the World Cup and Test cricket is about the Ashes.

"I certainly tried my best, the boys tried their best and we got outplayed. We got beaten. Now it's time for the next generation of players, the next captain to have his opportunity to try and build the team and get them ready for the next Ashes series."

Clarke stopped playing Twenty20 cricket for his country after taking over the Test captaincy from Ricky Ponting in 2011 and played his final one-day match for Australia in the World Cup final triumph earlier this year.

Leaden-footed and ill at ease at the crease, Clarke eked 13 grudging runs from 37 deliveries before being caught in the slips off seamer Mark Wood on day two of the fourth Test.

His wicket all but ensured would will be spared from batting again at Trent Bridge, while hastening the inevitable series defeat for the outclassed tourists.

The scratchy 13 followed his first innings 10, which ended with an absurd swipe at a loose Stuart Broad delivery when his team desperately needed a cautious captain's knock rather than a free-wheeling assault befitting a tail-end slogger.

Clarke now averages 16.71 for the series, the worst performer among Australia's recognised batsmen who have played more than two Tests in the series.

Though 34, badly out of form and trailing 2-1 in the series, Clarke was strident on the eve of the Nottingham Test that the Ashes would not be his swan-song, win or lose.

However, that defiance has been dismissed in Australia where the belief he retains the right to choose the timing of his exit is fast evaporating.

"Michael Clarke is finished in Test cricket. It is obvious and it is now a matter of managing him out of the game," cricket writer Peter Lalor said in The Australian newspaper.

Clarke bowed out of one-day cricket after leading Australia to a record fifth World Cup triumph in March, and few in his home country would have begrudged his quest to retain the Ashes in England.

But with each consecutive failure in the series, Clarke's determination to prolong his Test career has seemed more indulgence than necessity.

His demotion from fourth to fifth in the batting order at Nottingham was rationalised as part of a selectors' gambit to add depth to a flaky batting order, but in essence appeared an act of protection for a fallen great.

As Clarke has laboured, his understudy Steven Smith has also come undone since guiding Australia to a victory at Lord's with a sparkling century.

The faltering partnership between a captain and his deputy should be familiar to Clarke, who also struggled with the bat during the ill-fated 2010/11 series when heir apparent to the under-fire Ricky Ponting.

Australia reveres its Test captains like few other cricketing nations and Clarke retains the special affections of a public that was rocked by the death of Phillip Hughes but grateful for Clarke's dignity in the grieving of his team-mate and close friend.

Even as Clarke prodded and poked for his 13 at Trent Bridge, he surpassed Matthew Hayden to be fourth on Australia's list of test run-scorers, a milestone of a master batsman all but lost in the turmoil of an Ashes capitulation.

The men above him -- Ponting, Allan Border and Steve Waugh -- were all captain-batsmen whose retirements would ultimately see their teams move onwards and upwards.

Australia's return to the top Test ranking last year, however brief, owed much to Clarke's astute captaincy and brilliance with the bat.

Ironically, their hope of avoiding a deep and prolonged slump may rest on his ability to walk away with dignity in defeat.

It is never a pleasurable experience to see a talent like Clarke being pilloried Down Under, but sport is a brutal business at the top level. When the inquest is complete, the bloodletting will be brutal. Nobody it seems will be spared. Being a failing Australia captain in an Ashes series is viewed as a national disaster back home. Former captain Ricky Ponting has intimated that eight men will never turn out for the national side again after this series.

“There could be up to eight guys who might not ever play Test cricket again in this touring squad. That’s a big number... half the squad,” said Ponting. “You’ve got to break it down and look at the deficiencies. The cold, hard facts are there. If we got bowled out for 60 then England batted on the same pitch and (declared) for 391 (shows) one, we didn’t bat well, and two, we probably didn’t bowl well either. Now, here we are again at 7-241, which actually should be the best batting conditions for the whole game."

Ponting stopped short of naming Clarke, a former team-mate, but didn't really need to. At least 'Pup' can console himself with the knowledge that he won't be the only man shown the door with England on the brink of five wins out of seven over Australia in the past decade.

It is worth noting that, as he has reminded the media frequently, Clarke is not one of the selectors who pick the Australia side. His form may be pitiful but the team itself has been weak. He has led his side with dignity, most notably in those dark days following the death of Phil Hughes. He deserves to walk away with his head held high now.