Michael Clarke decides against domestic cricket comeback

Former Australian skipper Michael Clarke has ruled out a return to his domestic side New South Wales for the upcoming edition of the domestic season. The 35-year old Clarke, who retired shortly after the Ashes defeat in England in 2015 staged the possibility of a comeback and raised heavy speculations about resurfacing in the forthcoming season of the domestic One-Day Cup, the state association confirmed on Tuesday.

However, all these rumors were quashed once a spokesman from the New South Wales confirmed that Clarke would certainly not be making his much-anticipated comeback. These reports began to reach the surface when Clarke had made his Twenty20 Kowloon Cantons in the two-day Hong Kong T20 tournament, where he made 6 and 15 not out in his two innings.

However, in spite of that, the NSW management confirmed that Clarke would certainly not be returning for the 2016-17 edition of the domestic tournament. Although a reason for Clarke’s exclusion has not been disclosed, reports suggest that the right-hander would not be able to participate in the team’s pre-season training activities due to his business commitments.

“Michael has decided against returning to elite cricket with the NSW Blues,” a Cricket NSW spokesman told News Corp.

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In spite of this, Clarke has stated that he hopes to play in the Big Bash League. The former Australian skipper has not previously played in the tournament despite being contracted by the Sydney Thunder and the Melbourne Stars in the past. In February, Sydney Sixers, who had a few slots to fill in their roster for the sixth season of the tournament, had spoken to Clarke about his return plans.

“We only have a few positions available on our roster and we are just working through our review process from last season. It’s a long offseason so we will wait and see how things pan out in the coming months,” Dominic Remond, General Manager of the Sixers, had told AAP.

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