Wisden overview
A star at youth level, the wristy Michael Clarke lived up to his billing as soon as he broke into the New South Wales team at the age of 18. Exuberance, pizazz, vitality, maturity: Clarke brings it all to the middle order, and it was a matter of time before he did so under the baggy green. Missed out to Darren Lehmann when Mark Waugh was pensioned off, and then to Martin Love when Lehmann got injured, before making his international debut during 2002-03's VB Series. His time at Test level, undoubtedly, will come - possibly during the tour of West Indies early in 2003, for which he was a late replacement for the injured Damien Martyn. Rob Smyth

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