Wednesday 10 March 2010

Test vice-captain Michael Clarke’s hasty departure mid-tour from New Zealand has been the talk of the country for the last 24 hours and iconic former captain Ian Chappell has questioned the move.

''I don't think this is doing him a lot of good,'' Chappell told The Age.

''The first thing you need in an Australian captain is someone who is going to be there all the time. In other words, you can't afford to have someone who gets injured a bit, like Michael does, or has other issues that occasionally need to be sorted out.

''Australia has had only 42 Test captains over 130 years now.

“That's incredible and one of the reasons is that we have always had very durable guys as captains. One of the important things is that they're there all the time.

''I understand that situations can come along where things need to be sorted out domestically but if I was a selector, it would be in the back of mind.

''I'd be thinking, 'well, if we have another candidate the equal to this Michael Clarke, he might be worth looking at.' Stability and durability, to me, are very important factors in an Australian captain. They might not be right at the top of the list but they're right up there, in my book, when it comes to captaincy'.”

Mark Waugh is the other former player to have spoken at length on the issue, saying he felt it was the right thing for Clarke to do, but that it should not happen again.