Clarke happy under Ponting by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Player:	MJ Clarke, RT Ponting
Event:	Australia in British Isles 2009

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DateLine: 28th August 2009

 

Michael Clarke said he is not keen to replace his 'fantastic leader' in Ricky Ponting.

 

Ponting earlier on Wednesday had said he was prepared to share the leadership with Clarke.

 

"At the end of the day, he's our leader and has been for my whole career. I'm blessed that I get this opportunity when he's not here to do that fill-in role, but Punter's our leader and I'm more than happy to keep playing under him," Clarke said.

 

As Punter takes a break, Clarke will be leading the side in an ODI against Scotland in Edinburgh and two Twenty20 matches and three one-dayers against England.

 

"To me, we don't have to worry about that because Ricky's our captain. I'm lucky with the relationship I've got with Punt. No doubt he's our leader, but when he needs to have time off or misses a game, as vice-captain I get this chance.

 

"My goal is to try and get five wins, so when the skipper comes back we're in good form for him," Clarke was quoted as saying by 'Herald Sun'.

 

Clarke also defended his skipper saying Ponting alone was not responsible for the Ashes defeat and criticism should not be directed towards just one person.

 

"The criticism of us as a team is probably fair enough, we didn't get the result we wanted. It's the whole team out there on the field and there was times we all didn't perform individually and as a team as well as we'd like, so I think the criticism needs to go to the team.

 

"I know it's not one person's fault. Ricky's been a fantastic leader throughout my whole career. He was inspirational at times during this Ashes series and he wanted to win as much as anybody," Clarke said.