The Melbourne Stars this morning announced that Michael Clarke has signed with the Club for the next two seasons.
“I’ve been fortunate through my career to have success in Test format, and the most recent One Day World Cup but there’s a goal I haven’t achieved yet, and that’s trying to help a team win the BBL,” said Clarke. “I look forward to the challenge over the next couple of years helping the Melbourne Stars, I’m really confident.
“I think they’re a wonderful team, the goal of the Melbourne Stars is to get better every single time we walk out onto the park.
“There’s obviously huge expectation that comes with the Melbourne Stars and I think that’s a great thing, I think it’s no different to representing your country. You want to be the best, you want to win, you want to have success and that will be my goal and I know that’s the goal of the Melbourne Stars.”
Melbourne Stars President Eddie McGuire presented the number 23 jersey to Clarke on the Stars home ground before announcing his captaincy.
“It is my great honour to announce that the new Captain of the Melbourne Stars is Michael Clarke, one of the great players of the modern era.
“This is big time cricket now; the Twenty20 Big Bash has become one of the biggest competitions in the world. The Stars play at the best ground in the world for cricket and now we have one of the best players of all time,” said McGuire.
Michael Clarke is widely respected for his leadership, currently the Australian Test Captain and the reigning ICC World Cup winning Captain, new Head Coach Stephen Fleming is confident he’s the right man for the job of taking the Stars a step further in BBL|05.
“Michael’s success as a player, and of course as Captain of Australia, sets him apart as a leader. He always responds well to pressure and has lead strongly through performance.
“Michael’s drive to perform and to win is going to be help the Stars be successful. The Big Bash League is a form of the game that he wants to succeed in, and when he has a drive and a desire to perform, he does,” said Fleming.
“The relationship between Captain and Coach is very important and I think Michael and I will work very well together. I have enjoyed playing against him and rate him very highly as a player and Captain. I look forward to developing that relationship further as we prepare for another big season at the Stars,” said Fleming.
In addition to the two year deal signed with Michael Clarke, the Melbourne Stars announced it has secured Adam Zampa on a four year deal.
The leg spin bowler comes across from Adelaide Strikers and is looking forward to the challenges and excitement that comes with playing for the Melbourne Stars.
“I’m very excited to have the opportunity to join the likes of Michael Clarke, David Hussey and Kevin Pietersen at the Melbourne Stars. I’m still young and I believe that the more good and experienced cricketers I can play with the more I’ll learn so this is a great opportunity to keep improving my game,” said Zampa.
“The prospect of playing under Michael Clarke is really exciting – he’s obviously a great player and I really admire the way he captains spin bowling in particular,” he said.
Commenting on the addition of Zampa to the Stars’ playing list for the next four seasons, Head Coach Stephen Fleming said, “Adam Zampa is a wonderful young talent with a real drive to learn and improve his cricket. I think he’s going to get a lot out of his time with the Stars and I’m delighted we could secure him for the future of the Club.”
The Stars has also recruited power hitting all-rounder Evan Gulbis, who comes across from the Hobart Hurricanes.
Michael Clarke commented on the new signings saying, “Gulbis has had a lot of success as an all-rounder as well, I really like the way he plays. He’s a power hitter and he can bowl 140-145kms so they (Gulbis and Zampa) are two really good strike weapons for our squad, and on a big ground like this they’re going to help us have a lot of success.”
James Buttler
As the editor of Cricket Badger he is intent on building the website to give quality coverage of the domestic game around the world.
James was the full-time Media Manager at Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 2007 and 2010.
James is a published author and a writer/video contributor to many cricket publications.
He's unsurprisingly a complete cricket badger!
