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SYDNEY: Michael Clarke is not your archetypal Australian cricket captain: he's fresh-faced, tattooed, and loves Twitter and the high life, traits which have not endeared him to a distrusting public.
Known as “Pup” for his youthful precociousness, he can frequently be seen on advertising hoardings posing in his briefs, but there are questions over his ability to manage relationships within the team, and his variable form.
The 29-year-old from Sydney's gritty west was a celebrity even before his Test debut, his flashy shot-making and future promise earning him Australian cricket's then record sponsorship deal in 2004.
He has not strayed far from the tabloids since, largely because of his high-profile relationship with blonde model Lara Bingle, the face of Australia's unpopular “So where the bloody hell are you?” tourism campaign.
Their messy break-up, prompted by a nude photo scandal involving Bingle, culminated in Clarke controversially leaving a tour of New Zealand to end their engagement, as gleeful media camped outside their Bondi Beach penthouse.
But the episode also demonstrated Clarke's steely side. Returning to New Zealand, he immediately hammered a century, providing the best possible riposte to his detractors.
Michael John Clarke was born on April 2, 1981, in Liverpool in suburban Sydney, and honed his clipped technique at an indoor cricket centre run by his father, Les.
The right-hander captained Australia's under-19s and signed for New South Wales at 18, quickly earning a reputation as a superstar-to-be.
Clarke made his one-day international debut in 2003 and played his first Test a year later.
He was immediately Australia's golden boy, earning early man-of-the-match awards -- helped by his slow left-arm bowling -- and top-scoring with a vital 151 on his Test debut against India.
Clarke collected the first of two Allan Border Medals, Australian cricket's highest honour, in 2005, but suffered his first serious setback the same year, when he was dropped from the Test team following poor form in the Ashes.
But he returned to prominence during the 2006/2007 Ashes series, helping Australia to a 5-0 whitewash of England. He captained Australia for the first time in a 2007 Twenty20 game, and took charge of his first series in 2008.
Clarke's resurgence earned him the 2009 Allan Border Medal, raising his standing as captain Ricky Ponting's probable successor. But revelations of a dressing-room bust-up with Simon Katich raised concerns over relations with his fellow players.
A similar split was also reported after a stinging one-day defeat to Sri Lanka in Melbourne last November, when Clarke was stand-in captain.
A long-standing back problem affected Clarke during Australia's heavy Ashes defeat this season, when he was one of a number of batsmen to fail as the hosts slumped to their worst ever Test series loss.
His image was not helped by news that he attended a celebrity breakfast on the opening morning of the Melbourne Ashes Test, before Australia were embarrassingly skittled out to effectively hand the series to England.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, only 26 percent of 21,000 respondents in an online poll backed him as Australia's 43rd Test captain.
But once-mighty Australia's ranks are low on possible skippers, with opener Shane Watson and the veteran Michael Hussey seen as the only other viable contenders.
