When it comes to Michael Clarke never-ending struggle with fame, a champion cricketer who was always so much more, life often imitates art — or Instagram.
Since his early days in baggy green, he has courted celebrity while also being irritated by the attention it brings.
To the long list of which he’s been embroiled, add a two-minute video of him arguing with girlfriend and Stefanovic’s sister-in-law, Jade Yarbrough, who accuses him of sleeping with former girlfriend Pip Edwards before slapping him across the face.
In March 2010, he cancelled a tour of New Zealand as vice-captain to return to Sydney and call it quits with Lara Bingle. That has never happened in Australian cricket before and is unlikely to happen again.
He was involved in an infamous SCG dressing-room brawl with teammate Simon Katich, who grabbed him by and threw him against a wall a year before. It caused a schism in the Australian team that would last until his retirement.
Your humble correspondent broke the story, and what surprised me the most was how well Cricket Australia was prepared for it. Within 20 minutes of my inquiry, CA public affairs manager Peter Young responded with statements from both players.
Clarke struggled to accept blame for anything for the majority of his career. That can be attributed to spending most of his life in the shadow of the Australian cricket team.
But, with this latest humiliation, he took the highest ground possible — if such a thing exists — by issuing a statement on Wednesday night accepting full responsibility.
