Early years Clarke made his
One Day International debut in January 2003 against
England at
Adelaide Oval. Clarke made his
Test debut at
M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in
Bangalore in October 2004, in the first Test match of Australia's
2004 tour of India. In his first innings, Clarke batted with good footwork against India's bowlers. He was not confident that he could read India's spin bowler
Anil Kumble's deliveries, so he moved to the pitch of the ball to eliminate the spin. He scored 151 runs and was named the player of the match in Australia's win. He continued to play well for the rest of the tour. Despite not being considered a strong bowler, he bowled in fourth Test match at
Wankhede Stadium in
Mumbai and took six wickets for nine runs. This remained the best bowling performance of his Test career until he retired. The Australian team returned home in November 2004 and Clarke played his first home Test match
against New Zealand at
The Gabba in
Brisbane. He scored another century, finishing with 141 runs, and was again named player of the match. After his early success in the team, Clarke began to struggle and didn't score another century in the following six Test series he played. Clarke's form dropped after this innings, and he struggled to score runs for the rest of the year. He stayed in the team until November 2005, during Australia's series
against the West Indies. In the first Test match at
Bellerive Oval in
Hobart, Clarke was dismissed for 5 runs while playing a loose stroke in the first innings, and he did not bat in the second innings. He was dropped from the team following this match.
Return to international cricket After being dropped from the national team at the end of 2005, Clarke focused on changing his batting technique to tighten his defence and play with a straighter bat. He performed well in Australian domestic cricket and returned to the national team in 2006. Clarke then helped Australia retain the
2007 Cricket World Cup in the
West Indies where they did not lose a game. After
Damien Martyn's retirement he was elevated to number five in the batting line up. He had a superb tournament making four 50s including a 92 and a 93* against the
Netherlands and South Africa. He also made an unbeaten 60 against South Africa in the semi-final to guide Australia into the final at Barbados, against Sri Lanka. He was named as 12th man in the 'Team of the Tournament' by ESPNcricinfo for the 2007 World Cup.
Struggle in form Clarke faced only four balls for three runs in the
ICC World Twenty20, when Australia were knocked out by India in the semi-final. Two weeks later he made 130 against India in the first of a seven-match ODI series. He did not maintain that form in the remaining 6 matches mustering up just one fifty. He opened the batting in the final two games after a hip injury ruled out
Matthew Hayden and he made two
golden ducks. In the tour-ending
Twenty20 match Clarke dropped back down the order with the return of Hayden, and scored 25 not out in a heavy defeat. On 9 November 2007, Clarke notched up his fifth Test century against Sri Lanka in a two Test series. Clarke shared a 245 run partnership with
Mike Hussey at the
Gabba in Brisbane, Hussey departed on 133 but Clarke went on and had a partnership with Symonds who made 53*, the pair were unbeaten when
Ricky Ponting declared the innings, Clarke top scoring with 145 not out. On 6 January 2008, Clarke dismissed
Harbhajan Singh,
RP Singh and
Ishant Sharma in the second last over of the day, with just six minutes remaining, to claim the final three wickets and win the Test match for Australia (at one stage he was on a hat trick, dismissing Harbhajan Singh and RP Singh on consecutive deliveries). His innings figures were 3 for 5 in 1.5 overs. Australian captain
Ricky Ponting had declared that morning, setting India a total of 333 to chase and allowing Australia arguably too little time to bowl out the visitors. Clarke's wickets ensured that Australia retained the
Border–Gavaskar Trophy in 2008 and kept their world record equalling 16 match win streak alive.
Vice captaincy in 2009. After the retirement of
Adam Gilchrist, in April 2008 Clarke was named vice-captain of the Australian team. Clarke missed the start of
Australia's 2008 tour of the West Indies following the death of Bingle's father, meaning Hussey took over as vice-captain for the start of the tour. Soon after Clarke joined up with the squad, he scored a century in the second Test in Antigua, going on to captain the team in the final two One Day Internationals, both of which were won, in the absence through injury of Ponting. He was named man of the series in the two-Test series against New Zealand in Australia with scores of 110, 98 and 10, as well as being the top run-scorer in the three-Test series against South Africa in Australia. Clarke won the 2009 Allan Border Medal in a tie with Ricky Ponting both scoring 41 points, and was named Test Cricketer of the Year. For his performances in 2009, he was named in the World Test XI by the ICC.
Captaincy On 5 December 2007, Cricket Australia named Clarke as captain of Australia for their one-off Twenty20 game against New Zealand in Perth, after deciding to rest Ponting and Hayden. Clarke was named as captain of Australia's Twenty20 team in October 2009, taking over from
Ricky Ponting, who retired from Twenty20 International cricket to prolong his career. In January 2011, Clarke was named as stand-in captain for the fifth Test of the
2010–11 Ashes Series at the
SCG, replacing the injured Ricky Ponting. He announced his retirement from
Twenty20 International cricket on 7 January 2011, to concentrate on the longer forms of the game. When Ponting stood down from the captaincy of the Australian Test and ODI teams after the
2011 World Cup, Clarke was appointed as his permanent replacement in both roles. His knock of 151 against South Africa at Cape Town was nominated to be one of the best Test batting performance of the year 2011 by ESPNcricinfo. In January 2012, in the second Test of Australia's
home series against India and after a string of Test centuries since becoming captain, Clarke became the first Australian batsman since Matthew Hayden in 2003 to score a triple hundred. He joined with Ricky Ponting (134) in a partnership of 288, then added 334 with Michael Hussey (150*) before declaring on 329*, having started his innings with the score at 37/3. This match against India was the 100th Test to be played at the
Sydney Cricket Ground, and Clarke's score was both the highest ever made in an Australia-India Test (surpassing
V. V. S. Laxman's 281 from the 2000/01 season) and the highest ever achieved at the ground. The ground high score record had been held for more than a century by Englishman
Reg "Tip" Foster's 287 scored in the 1903/04 season. Clarke led Australia to a 4–0 win and was named the player of the series, having scored 626 runs at an average of 125.20. His knock was nominated to be one of the best Test batting performance of the year by ESPNcricinfo. He joined his triple century in Sydney with a double-century (210) in the first innings of the fourth Test in
Adelaide. His 386-run partnership with Ponting (who scored 221) was the fourth-highest in Australian Test history. Following the
Frank Worrell Trophy 2012,
Ian Chappell said Clarke "is quickly establishing a well-deserved reputation for brave and aggressive captaincy. His entertaining approach is based on one premise: trying to win the match from the opening delivery. This should be the aim of all international captains, but sadly it isn't." On 22 November 2012, Clarke scored a double century against South Africa at the Adelaide Oval. Three weeks before the
2013 Ashes series, Clarke requested to stand down from his role as a selector, which also coincided with the sacking of coach
Mickey Arthur and the naming of
Darren Lehmann as his successor. After losing the 2013 Ashes in England, Clarke led Australia to a 5–0 victory in the
2013–14 Ashes series. Australia later gained the No. 1 Test ranking from
South Africa after a long span of 4 years and 9 months (from August 2009 to April 2014), when Australia defeated South Africa 2–1 in a 3 match Test series, during
Australia's tour of South Africa in 2014. Under his captaincy, Australia made their lowest Test score (47 all out) in 109 years, and shortest first innings (18.3 overs, 60 all out) in Test cricket history, and their worst-ever series defeat against India in Test history, which is also the first 4–0
whitewash for Australia against any team since 1969. Several of his teammates have criticised his captaincy.
Mitchell Johnson described the team atmosphere as 'toxic' under his captaincy, while
Michael Hussey described the dressing room was stressful and tense. Several former players including
John Buchanan Andrew Symonds,
Matthew Hayden, and
Simon Katich spoke against his captaincy. Katich, a former team mainstay, blamed Clarke for effectively ending his career once he became captain in revenge for a post-match incident several years earlier which saw Katich grab Clarke by the throat following a row about the singing of Australia's team song in the dressing room.
Late career Clarke suffered a hamstring injury on 14 November 2014, which put him in doubt to play at the beginning of the
2014–15 Border–Gavaskar Trophy. The series was rescheduled after the death of
Phillip Hughes on 27 November, and Clarke was able to recover in time for the first Test at
Adelaide Oval, for which Hughes was named as Australia's honorary 13th man. On the first day of the match, Clarke scored 60 runs before suffering a back injury (a flare-up of his degenerative back condition). He
retired hurt from the innings, but returned to batting the next day. Because of his injury, Clarke couldn't play in his usual style and focused on wrist-work. He scored a century, finishing his innings with 128 runs. This was the last century he scored in his career. Clarke starred in the final against
New Zealand, top scoring with a score of 74 off 72 balls, as Australia won their fifth World Cup title. He was
bowled when nine runs were required to win. Clarke announced that he would retire from One Day Cricket at the conclusion of the 2015 Cricket World Cup. Australia lost the series after the fourth Test match at
Trent Bridge with one match remaining. Following the match, Clarke announced that he would retire from international cricket at the end of the series. ==Twenty20 leagues==