Captain's Diary: The Inside Story of the 2013-14 Ashes Triumph

by Michael Clarke, Shane Warne (Foreword)

After a three year losing streak in the Ashes, complete with a painfully recent 3-0 loss in England, facing the victorious English cricket team so soon was never going to be an easy battle. The public's faith in the young Australian team was waning.Despite their failures, captain Michael Clarke records in his diary a feeling of hunger in his a hunger to strike back, a hunger to prove their talent to the world. A hunger to return the urn.Michael Clarke led his team to an Ashes victory at home in a 5-0 triumph over the 2013-14 summer. Along the way, the tide of public affection turned in his favour for the first time. Clarke had previously been respected for his deeds as a batsman, but had not truly won the hearts of sports fans.This Ashes series changed that. Clarke showed the grit, talent, charisma and aggression Australian sports fans look for in their leaders. Revealing and insightful, Clarke once again puts his unique mark on the sport, giving us his account of how he rallied both the team and public behind him to bring the urn home.

304 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 4, 2014

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Please see: Michael Clarke


Michael John Clarke AO (born 2 April 1981) is an Australian former cricketer. He was captain of the Australian cricket team in both Test and One Day International (ODI) between 2011 and 2015, leading Australia to victory in the 2015 Cricket World Cup. He also served as captain of the Twenty20 International (T20I) side between 2007 and 2010. With his time representing Australia, Clarke won multiple ICC titles with the team: the 2007 Cricket World Cup, the 2015 Cricket World Cup which he was the winning captain, and the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy.

Nicknamed "Pup",[2] Clarke was a right-handed middle-order batsman, an occasional left-arm orthodox spin bowler and also a slip catcher. He represented New South Wales at a domestic level.

Clarke retired from all forms of cricket after the final Test of the 2015 Ashes series.

source: Wikipedia

Reviews

[Peter Langston · Rating 1 out of 5]

Most cricketers should stick to what the excel at and leave the writing to writers. Clarke was a fine cricketer and a daring, inventive captain and his suggestion to Jimmy Anderson in the dying moments of the First Test define the series and galvanised a nation of previous undecided sports lovers behind him. Money earner no doubt but never the less a boring combination of match descriptions and guru philosophies on winning. A very bland read.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

A great book that I am so pleased I got for Christmas! The story of how the Australian cricket team did the impossible and won the Ashes 5-0. This book showed me how good a captain Michael Clarke really is.

[LucasMcConnell17 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the book because it explained Michael Clark's Cricket Career. the pictures were good and i would recommend it to people.