Stuart Clark pleads with McGrath for help by CricketArchive staff reporter

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Player:

SR Clark, GD McGrath

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DateLine: 1st January 2007

 

Stuart Clark has urged his retiring mentor Glenn McGrath to help the Australian team with his vast playing experience when he quits the game.

 

McGrath and Shane Warne will play their final Test matches in Tuesday's fifth Ashes Test against England at the Sydney Cricket Ground, although McGrath, 36, plans to continue until the one-day World Cup in the Caribbean before calling it quits.

 

Clark has been a revelation in his first eight Test matches taking 42 wickets, half of them in the Ashes series. The seam bowler believes McGrath would be too useful a resource to be lost to Australian cricket once he retires. Clark said he learned the art of fast bowling from studying McGrath at close hand. The two have been team-mates at club, state and national level and have similar bowling actions. They also share the ability to find good bounce and movement off the seam, and maintain accuracy.

 

"He's retiring from Australian cricket but I don't think he'll be lost to Australian cricket," Clark told reporters in Sydney Sunday. "There's a lot of knowledge in that 13-year career so we'll be doing everything we can, whether it's for Australia or for NSW, to be keeping him around the team."

 

Clark said McGrath and Warne were irreplaceable, but he was focused on forming a strong, lasting new ball partnership with Brett Lee. Lee and Clark bowled impressively in the fourth Test, where their combined 11 wickets helped Australia beat England by an innings and 99 runs.

 

"Partnerships in bowling work like batting. If you get a good one it can lead the whole team into a good position in any Test match," Clark said.