PTI
MELBOURNE, January 31
Six months after he called it quits, former Australian captain Michael Clarke is eyeing a return to first-class cricket and the lucrative IPL but has ruled out any immediate plan for an international comeback.
There was speculation that the 34-year-old, who retired following Australia’s Ashes defeat last August, could be aiming for an international comeback after saying that “I’ll never say never to anything” in an interview.
In a later interaction, he clarified that his immediate focus was on T20 tournaments like the Big Bash and the IPL.
Clarke will play for grade team Western Suburbs in a Sydney club match on February 20-21.
“I’ll start with playing this grade game for Western Suburbs and see if I miss it as much as I feel like I’m going to. If I do, the option is there to train the entire winter and then we’ll see what happens,” local media reported Clarke as having told ‘News Corp’
“There’s BBL next summer, I’d love to be a part of that, IPL, county cricket. There’s possibly even Sheffield Shield cricket for NSW,” he said.
“All I know is, I’ll never say never to anything,” he added.
Clarke later made it clear that his ambition was to pursue his T20 options as he said there was some “unfinished business” with the shortest format of the game.
“I’m not really making a cricket comeback, because I (only) retired from international cricket, but now I’m playing for my grade club Western Suburbs. I got an invitation a couple of weeks ago to come back and play a game for Wests, and I said yes, and I’m looking forward to it,” he said.
“Obviously I’ve seen the papers, and it says I’m coming back to play cricket for Australia and all sorts of things, but my focus right now. I haven’t picked up a bat for five months since I retired from international cricket,” he said.
