Why an Ashes victory could end Michael Clarke's Australia career

Are we witnessing the end of Michael Clarke’s international career? Over the past 12 months, the Australia captain has been a shadow of his former dominant self at the crease.

The most obvious problem has been his laboured movement, which would appear to be the result of the degenerative back condition that he has carried for years. Clarke has famouslymissed only one Test through injury despite that debilitating ailment. His courage in fighting through this is often overlooked.

But his spirit may no longer be enough to overcome the condition. During Clarke’s past eight Tests, he has made just 357 runs at an average of 27. Almost half of those runs came during a remarkable 161 not out at Cape Town to help set up a rousing 2-1 series win over South Africa. His other scores during that period, in order, have read: 24, 23, 10, 6no, 10, 6, 23, 17no, 19, 1, 0, 2, 3, 47, 5. Clarke’s average over those innings has been just 15.

During the disastrous series against Pakistan, Clarke was unrecognisable in his play against spin. One of the best players of slow bowling in Australian history looked leaden-footed and was clearly hampered by his back problems. The 33-year-old’s mastery of spin bowling has been built on nimble footwork. From his very first Test he has used his quick feet to reach the pitch of the ball and ceaselessly attack the tweakers.

The lasting memory of Clarke’s sparkling 151 on Test debut in Bangalore is of him repeatedly skipping down the track to flay two of India’s greatest spinners Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh. Yet in the UAE, against Pakistan’s accurate but comparatively modest and inexperienced spinners, he was flummoxed. Unable to advance comfortably or with confidence, he became a static target for Zulfiqar Babar and Yasir Shah. Three of his four dismissals resulted from him becoming uncharacteristically glued to the crease against spin. Clarke in his pomp would have had few troubles combating Zulfiqar and Shah on flat pitches that offered only slow turn.

His foot movement was also less than ideal against Pakistan’s quicks. This was brutally exposed when he made a half-hearted forward press to a full in-swinger from Imran Khan and had his stumps disturbed at Abu Dhabi.

This laboured movement at the crease was first exposed on last year’s tour of England when he displayed a fresh weakness against the short ball. Clarke had to that point been a strong player of short-pitched bowling and a particularly elegant exponent of the pull shot. During the 2012-13 season time and time again he had picked up the length of the ball early and then rocked back to dispatch South Africa’s aggressive pacemen through the leg side.

That three-Test series was the high watermark of Clarke’s wonderful Test career as he crunched 576 runs at an average of 144 against the world’s best attack. But just seven months later in England he was a different player and he has been ever since, aside from the odd throwback innings.

The reality is that Clarke has done phenomenally well to play 107 Tests and 237 one-day internationals such is the severity of his condition. Not only is he one of Australia’s greatest-ever Test players but he is also one of the best ODI batsmen in history, having compiled 7,751 runs at the phenomenal average of 45. Consider this: Among the top 30 run-scorers in ODI history, only one player has a better average than Clarke, and that’s Indian skipper MS Dhoni.

I had formed a belief that Clarke was likely to retire from ODIs after the World Cup being hosted by Australia and New Zealand in a few months. After watching him battle through the Tests against Pakistan, now I am convinced that will be the case. Unfortunately, it also appears as though his retirement from all international cricket may not be far away. At this stage in his career it’s unlikely that much can be done to fix his back, and at 33 his movement at the crease could get worse rather than better.

How much longer should he push himself through this pain? Clarke has achieved almost everything an Australian cricketer could desire. He has captained his country in all formats, won an ODI World Cup, spent a period as the best batsman on the planet, and was part of the great Australian team that bucked history to finally defeat India in their backyard in 2004.

There is, however, one thing that he has not ticked off his cricketing bucket list – winning an Ashes series in England. Clarke has known more Ashes misery than joy, being part of four losing Ashes teams, including three consecutive defeats in England stretching back to 2005.

Should his body continue to restrict him in the manner it has recently, the ODI World Cup and next year’s Ashes should be his farewell gigs. After the Ashes, Australia have a string of much lower-profile Test series against Bangladesh, the West Indies and New Zealand.

If Australia retain the Ashes it would be the ideal time to hand over the reins to skipper-in-waiting Steve Smith. Perhaps aptly, Smith’s twinkled-toed efforts in the UAE were reminiscent of the sort of beguiling batsmanship Clarke no longer seems physically capable of producing.