Latest news with #MichaelClarke
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Michael Clarke proves he's still a heavy hitter in the cricket world as he holidays with one of the most powerful men in the sport
Michael Clarke 's recent holiday snaps show that he is still a heavy hitter in the cricket world, with the former Aussie star mixing with one of the most powerful men in the sport. The 44-year-old, who was born in Liverpool, New South Wales, is well known as being one of Australia 's greatest-ever batsmen, ranking sixth on the list of the country's all-time top run-scorers. He rose to stardom, ranking as the No 1 Test batsman in the world at one stage of his career, doing so after overcoming the adversity of a back injury, which plagued the former Australia captain during the later stages of his career. During his glittering 12-year international cricket career, the Aussie would go on to score 8,643 runs across 115 Test matches for Australia, amassing a jaw-dropping 978 fours during that time. He'd also go on to score 13,826 First Class runs for New South Wales. He'd retire from Test cricket in 2015 following a glittering career, but is still mixing with some big names from the sport. In fact, pictures from his most recent vacation to Sardinia with his girlfriend, Arabella Sherborne, show the former cricketer spending some time with Lalit Modi, the former chairperson and founder of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Modi has also served as the President of the Rajasthan Cricket Association and was appointed the Vice President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) between 2005 and 2010. Back in 2013, Modi was banned by the BCCI for 'indiscipline and misconduct'. He denies any wrongdoing in relation to the ban. In March, the Prime Minister of Vanuatu ordered the cancellation of the passport of the Indian businessman Modi. Despite that, he is understood to now live in the United Kingdom, and still wields some influence within the sport. During his vacation, Clarke was sitting down for dinner with his girlfriend, Sherbourne, as well as Modi and Rima Bouri. Clarke also published a photograph of himself and the former cricket executive, presenting Modi with one of his Australia jerseys that had been signed by several other members of the team. In another picture, the pair were seen enjoying what appeared to be a deep conversation by a pool in Sardinia. It appears he may publish some parts of their conversation on his Beyond23 Cricket Podcast, after the former Aussie Test skipper tagged the podcast in the image. Clarke and Sherborne celebrated their one-year anniversary in May, and now the cricketer has appointed her as his executive assistant During his Sardinia getaway, Clarke was also pictured filming with journalist Piers Morgan for the podcast. Morgan is known to be a big cricket fanatic. It comes after a sad detail was revealed that suggested that some of Clarke's former team-mates have cut him out of their lives. During a podcast, Phil Rothfield and Andrew Webster had revealed that the cricketer's former team-mates have very little to do with Clarke. The revelation stemmed from a confrontation he had in the dressing room with Simon Katich during Australia's 2009 Test series against South Africa. During a match at the Sydney Cricket Ground, which was also Matthew Hayden's final appearance in the Baggy Green cap. Clarke had lashed out at delays of the performance of team's song, Under the Southern Cross I Stand. He had been looking to rush off to fulfil plans away from the team. Katich was unimpressed by his actions, allegedly grabbing the batter by the throat as the confrontation escalated.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
West Indies turn to Lara and co after record Test low, but future looks bleak
'People are coming and going like the walking dead, padding up and unpadding.' Michael Clarke surveys the hallucinogenic scene in front of him at Newlands in November 2011, the grand view of Table Mountain unlikely to ease the agony, his first-innings 151 now chip-shop paper. Clarke's Australia are 21 for nine, sliding towards the lowest total in Test history. Nathan Lyon and Peter Siddle get them to 47 to avoid record-breaking embarrassment but it's barely consolatory. 'By the time we go back into the field, we're still unable to accept what's happening,' Clarke writes in his autobiography. 'We look like a cricket team, but we are 11 ghosts, unable to believe this reality.' South Africa have a target of 236 – hardly straightforward – but Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla ton up in an eight-wicket procession. Well, at least West Indies didn't have to field. Their 27 all out against Australia last week at Sabina Park, completing a 176-run loss and series whitewash, bears a couple of explanations. This was a low-scoring three-Test series all the way through, the highest individual effort Brandon King's 75, and the pink ball is more dangerous than any other weapon in Mitchell Starc's hand. But this also bears repeating: twenty-seven. Tragic for rock'n'roll, a new low point for the Caribbean game. Cricket West Indies' president was quick with the state-of-emergency announcement. 'There will be some sleepless nights ahead for many of us, including the players, who I know feel this loss just as heavily,' said Kishore Shallow. He called for a meeting and invited the legendary triumvirate of Clive Lloyd, Viv Richards and Brian Lara to contribute their views. 'This engagement is not ceremonial,' Shallow added, before immediately harking back to 'our golden eras'. An impromptu nostalgia fest seems unlikely to solve decades-long decay. Deep introspection is a natural reaction to a two-digit total. In 2013, Brendon McCullum won the toss under blue skies in Cape Town and chose to bat in his first Test as New Zealand captain. South Africa were batting by lunch, McCullum's men cooked for 45 inside 20 overs. Mike Hesson, New Zealand's head coach, knocked on McCullum's door that evening and was joined by other members of the backroom staff as the discussion turned to something bigger than technique and selection. 'We just spoke from our hearts,' McCullum later recalled. 'About who we were as a team and how we were perceived by the public. It was agreed that we were seen as arrogant, emotional, distant from our public, and we were up ourselves … We were full of bluster but soft as putty.' Two years later, after a run of six Test series without defeat, they found adoration on the way to their first World Cup final. West Indies are not new to this kind of distress. Lara experienced it first-hand and moved on from it with his own stubborn extravagance. In 1999, when Steve Waugh's Australia bowled West Indies out for 51 in Trinidad, Lara responded with a double hundred in Jamaica that same week. His magnum opus 153 not out followed in the next Test. In 2004, England's tour of the Caribbean began with Steve Harmison taking seven for 12. 'The English now had these towering brutes bowling chin music,' Lara later wrote, noting the role reversal, his own quicks no longer the ones to fear. The hosts were shot out for 47, their lowest total until this month. Lara still found room for his world-record 400 at the end of the four-match series, a luxury not afforded to the current generation. India experienced the pain in December 2020 when undone for 36 in the first Test against Australia in Adelaide – another pink-ball collapse – but that performance continues to grow in significance. Prithvi Shaw and Wriddhiman Saha were discarded for the next Test, replaced by Shubman Gill, on debut, and Rishabh Pant. The series turned India's way and the pair have done pretty well for themselves since. Sri Lanka produced their lowest total just eight months ago, bowled out for 42 in Durban, but they at least showed ticker with 282 in the fourth innings. The in-game recovery doesn't quite match that of Australia's women against England in the second Test in Melbourne 67 years ago. The hosts were dismissed for 38 in the first dig on a wet surface. 'England were killing themselves laughing,' Betty Wilson, the great Australian all-rounder, told Cricinfo. Wilson twirled to figures of seven for seven to bowl them out for 35 in reply. She failed to clock her hat-trick to finish the innings, notified only on the way off the field. 'This sudden revelation caught me unawares and I started crying,' she said. 'I was just determined that they wouldn't get the runs.' Will any of these comebacks, collective and individual, provide hope to West Indies supporters? Probably not. Unlike India, who were bowled out for 46 by New Zealand last October, West Indies have no world-beating reserves to call upon, no control of the game's financial model, no recent triumphs to talk about in the other forms. It used to be that the men's red-ball failures were partly assuaged by their Twenty20 excellence, World Cup victories in 2012 and 2016 something to cling to, the power of Chris Gayle and co enough to rally round. But there is decline in that sphere, too. As West Indies perished to two 3-0 series defeats in England last month, Nicholas Pooran – Wisden's leading T20 cricketer in the world – announced his retirement from international cricket at 29, his remaining days to play out in the far more profitable franchise world. 'I'm pretty sure more will follow in that direction,' warned Daren Sammy, their head coach, adding that there are challenges in 'trying to keep our players motivated to play for the crest'. No wonder the desire to go back in time. 'When we came that morning, there was a slight silence but a focused silence in the changing room,' Keshav Maharaj tells the Spin. The morning, of course, is from last month at Lord's, with South Africa still 69 runs away from winning the World Test Championship. 'I wouldn't say it was nerves because I've seen our team nervous.' No, this time was different. After all the last-four failures and a lost final the year before, they got it done, that dreaded c-word told to do one. When did Maharaj know that the title was theirs? 'Definitely in the last 10 runs, although it was a nervy 10 runs, but I think the five wickets in hand was our saving grace at the time.' Maharaj spoke tearfully minutes after victory, with Graeme Smith, the former South Africa captain, asking the questions. 'I couldn't hold back my emotions. I was never going to do it. If you saw Dale Steyn in that interview as well, he burst into tears. It just shows how much it meant to us as a nation. I know Graeme was a little bit stronger than all of us, but I could see the passion and raw emotion within his eyes as well.' The win 'hasn't fully sunk in yet', says Maharaj, who then captained a new-look South Africa side against Zimbabwe at the end of June, the match including the 35-year-old's 200th Test wicket. Maharaj is the first South African spinner to reach the mark. 'Spin is a dying art in the world,' he says. 'I just want to pave the way for the next generation to believe that spin, the art of bowling spin, is something you can pursue and make a career from and be one of the world's best.' That'll explain the respect for Liam Dawson. Maharaj faced his fellow left-armer when Dawson last played Test cricket on South Africa's tour of England in 2017. 'He's come on leaps and bounds,' says Maharaj. 'To see how he's done in SA20, and he's dominated quite significantly in the last three years of county cricket. Always rated him as a bowler. He's also a great human being. When I had my achilles injury, he reached out to me because he had a similar injury, so it was quite nice. He's a wonderful asset, not just from a bowling perspective, but as a package because he bats as well.' I asked him a few questions about the tactics, whether you're going to stick with the 3-4-3 this season' – Kuldeep Yadav got his chat on with Ruben Amorim after India met up with Manchester United. With this week's Test match in Manchester, we take a look back at a painful experience there in 2014 for an England great when the home nation defied the loss of Stuart Broad at Old Trafford with a broken nose, romping to a second consecutive victory over an India team whose spirit then had been fractured, as Andy Wilson reported here. India's captain, Shubman Gill, reckons that England breached 'spirit of the game' during the third Test at Lord's, Simon Burnton reports, while Ali Martin tees up the fourth Test at Manchester. Gary Naylor shares the frustration of county cricket fans left waiting until September for the T20 Blast quarter-finals. And while Australia's selectors took a punt on Sam Konstas as Test opener – he is left with the debt, writes Geoff Lemon. … by writing to To subscribe to The Spin, just visit this page and follow the instructions.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Jock Zonfrillo's widow Lauren parties with Michael Clarke in Paris
Lauren Zonfrillo, the wife of late celebrity chef Jock, has been spotted partying in Europe. MasterChef Australia star Jock was found dead in a Melbourne hotel room in May 2023, after police were called to conduct a welfare check on the 46-year-old. After two years of dealing with the grief of Jock's passing, Lauren was all smiles this week when she was seen partying with cricket legend Michael Clarke in Paris. The former Australian captain took to Instagram on Tuesday to share a photo that showed him enjoying some downtime with pals in a Parisian bar. Michael looked chuffed to be in good company that included pals Nick and Amy Campbell and partner Arabella Sherborne. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. Cuddling up close to Arabella at the edge of the group, Lauren was positively beaming as she posed for the happy snap. Lauren showed off her svelte frame in a sleeveless white playsuit that flaunted her trim and toned arms and shoulders. Arabella was seen clutching Lauren's arm as the five pals took time out to document the soiree. It comes after Lauren recently shared the harrowing final moments she spent with her MasterChef Australia star husband as she said goodbye to his lifeless body. Lauren raced home to Australia from Italy with the couple's two young children, where she was faced with seeing his body in a Melbourne morgue. She told 7NEWS Spotlight's Liz Hayes in May that she was full of fear – but needed to see her husband, and speak to him. 'I was scared of it, but it was just what I needed. It was just a very strange feeling' she said while tears rolled down her face. 'Jock was in his pyjamas. I could smell his aftershave. I could smell his hair product. It was just like Jock was sleeping. 'I went up to him, and I wanted to touch him but I was quite scared. And so I started with his hair, and then I could touch his face, then I was kind of, was okay with it. But it was really my time to say goodbye to Jock' she continued. 'He was still there. I really felt he was there. I told him that it will be okay, that I've got this. That I will make sure the kids live big lives. And that, no matter what, we would be a family.' Lauren said that she begged her husband to tell her what happened to him, and wished that he would reply. 'I asked him what the f*** happened, and I just wanted the words from him. He just looked completely normal to me. 'I could not undo what was in front of me. Like, I am broken now. That's it. There's no fixing me. This is the person I love that much, who cannot be there.' When asked to disclose Jock's cause of death, which has never been revealed, Lauren remained protective of her husband. 'A lot of people want to know the answer to that, I'm really aware of that. I've had a lot of experiences with people coming up to me, all strangers, and asking how Jock died, and it's very unsettling' she said. 'Jock was very open in what he was willing to talk about. And I now don't want to make those decisions, because I don't know what he does and doesn't want to talk about.' A fortnight after Zonfrillo's death his wife led about 200 mourners who gathered for a funeral at Macquarie Park Cemetery and Crematorium at North Ryde on May 13. Among those who attended the service were celebrity chefs George Calombaris, Matt Moran, Colin Fassnidge, Manu Feildel and Shannon Bennett as well as Zonfrillo's co-stars Allen and Melissa Leong. Lauren delivered a eulogy before Zonfrillo's friend and fellow Scotsman, Jimmy Barnes, sang Amazing Grace with his daughter Mahalia. Before his death, Zonfrillo had been preparing for the launch of MasterChef's 15th season, which was set to premiere the night his body was found. He was also in the early stages of planning a new restaurant and had started working on a cookbook prior to his death. Zonfrillo and his wife, who married in 2017, had put their four-bedroom Carlton terrace up for rent ahead of a potential permanent move to Italy, where his father was born. Lauren also candidly opened up about life after Jock in her 2025 memoir Till Death Do Us Part.
Sky News
3 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News
Middle East latest: UN human rights chief warns Israel is risking more Gaza killing
Syrian security forces stand guard In Syria, security forces have been deployed to the outskirts of towns and villages in a bid to keep a recently-declared ceasefire intact. Security forces were seen near the town of Busra al Harir in the Daraa countryside to prevent tribal forces from advancing towards the Druze villages yesterday. The country's armed Bedouin clans announced that they had withdrawn from the Druze-majority city of Sweida after week-long clashes and a US-brokered ceasefire on Sunday. The clashes between militias of the Druze religious minority and the Sunni Muslim clans killed hundreds and threatened to unravel Syria's already fragile post-war transition. Israel also launched dozens of airstrikes in the Druze-majority Sweida province, targeting government forces who had effectively sided with the Bedouins. The clashes also led to a series of targeted sectarian attacks against the Druze community, followed by revenge attacks against the Bedouins. Yesterday, hundreds of Bedouin civilians were evacuated from Sweida as part of the truce, according to state media. Watch below: Analyst Michael Clarke explains who the Druze and Bedouin groups are
Sky News
3 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News
Middle East latest: White House admits strikes in Gaza and Syria caught Trump 'off guard' - as he warns Iran
In Syria, security forces have been deployed to the outskirts of towns and villages in a bid to keep a recently-declared ceasefire intact. Security forces were seen near the town of Busra al Harir in the Daraa countryside to prevent tribal forces from advancing towards the Druze villages yesterday. The country's armed Bedouin clans announced that they had withdrawn from the Druze-majority city of Sweida after week-long clashes and a US-brokered ceasefire on Sunday. The clashes between militias of the Druze religious minority and the Sunni Muslim clans killed hundreds and threatened to unravel Syria's already fragile post-war transition. Israel also launched dozens of airstrikes in the Druze-majority Sweida province, targeting government forces who had effectively sided with the Bedouins. The clashes also led to a series of targeted sectarian attacks against the Druze community, followed by revenge attacks against the Bedouins. Yesterday, hundreds of Bedouin civilians were evacuated from Sweida as part of the truce, according to state media. Watch below: Analyst Michael Clarke explains who the Druze and Bedouin groups are
