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Clark answers the call

08/07/2009 08:40:45 PM

Finding the right bowling mix has proved a constant source of frustration for Australia this tour but it finally stumbled on the magic formula at Headingley.

For all the navel gazing about the woes of Ricky Ponting's attack, perhaps the solution was right under his nose all along.

And like a pair of misplaced car keys, it was found in the first place he should have searched.

In its hour of need, Australia finally turned to Stuart Clark, its leading wicket-taker from 2006-07, and he did not disappoint.

Sure, it will be Peter Siddle's name which is etched onto the honour boards at Headingley but Clark's contribution - 3-18 from 10 overs - cannot be understated.

The words unerring, unnerving, accurate - they've become hackneyed when used to describe Clark - were again apt.

In his debut appearance this series and first in the baggy green for more than eight months, Clark squeezed the life out of England.

Accustomed to bleeding runs out of Australia this series, England's batsmen unravelled spectacularly in the absence of such charity.

Clark gave England little room to open their shoulders and derived just enough movement to claim the outside edge.

With Clark as a safety net at the other end rather than each other, Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle, in particular, prospered.

The selectors have copped a hammering this tour but their form in the past nine days deserves applause.

Axing Phillip Hughes was a bold move and replacing him with Shane Watson, an unestablished opener but who has made half-centuries in each of his three innings, proved a masterstroke.

They kept faith in Johnson and Siddle, who both paid back part of the debt, and had the gumption to leave out off-spinner Nathan Hauritz, one of Australia's better bowlers this series, on a lively wicket.

The question now is why didn't they pick Clark earlier?

 
Photograph Copyright : Getty Images

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