Clarke in no mood to talk

BY SAM WORTHINGTON

There is a cricket test starting in Wellington this Friday but you wouldn't know it.

The Michael Clarke media circus rolled into the capital yesterday as the Australian vice-captain returned to join his team-mates following his high profile breakup with model Lara Bingle.

If Clarke was hoping for a quiet cup of tea on board his flight from Sydney, he didn't get it, with Australia's Channel 7 booking a reporter and a cameraman seats on flight QF47 in an attempt to interview him.

Clarke was welcomed by about 20 journalists at Wellington Airport but their frantic questioning fell on deaf ears as he was escorted to a getaway car flanked by four members of Australia's management.

Top of the list of queries was whether plumbers had managed to retrieve Bingle's A$200,000 engagement ring, reportedly stuck in the toilet of Clarke's Bondi home.

"I have no comment," Clarke repeatedly said as he was ushered through the throng.

Australian fast bowler Doug Bollinger was left to answer questions about Clarke and whether he would be targeted by the Basin Reserve crowd.

"I'm sure they'll [the crowd] be fine, that's a completely different issue, that's a personal issue for Michael," Bollinger said.

"I'm glad that he's coming back and I'm sure he'll be fresh and ready to go."

Bollinger said playing cricket would prove a welcome distraction from Clarke's dramas. "I think it'll take his mind off everything that is going on and I reckon it'll be great for him.

"He'll be great around the group and great playing cricket."

New Zealand coach Mark Greatbatch said they wouldn't specifically target Clarke.

"He's just another batter really," Greatbatch said.

"Obviously he's a qualified and wonderful test player and we'll have some plans to bowl to him, like we have for other guys, so he won't be any different."

The Clarke-Bingle bust-up has created a media storm in Australia, with reports he drowned his sorrows in a Sydney nightclub over the weekend, while the expensive Aston Martin that Clarke gave her sits in a car yard and plumbers manually sift through his apartment sewer searching for Bingle's ring.

Clarke is one of five Australian arrivals for the two-test series alongside New South Wales team-mates Simon Katich, Phil Hughes and Steve Smith, and out-of-sorts batsman Marcus North.

The choice at No6 between exciting leg-spinner/batsman Smith and the experienced North looms as Australia's only selection headache, with Ryan Harris expected to make his test debut ahead of Clint McKay.

A relaxed Bollinger was expecting a flat Basin Reserve pitch and you get the impression he won't be having sleepless nights pondering New Zealand's batting lineup.

Test openers Tim McIntosh and BJ Watling are yet to face Australia's attack, while Peter Ingram has been retained at No3 despite being dropped from the one-day squad.

"They're just batters," Bollinger said.

"We've got plenty of footage to have a look at. I hadn't seen [Ingram] before...

"The first couple of games are always shaky but I'm sure he can come back.

"But I'm happy that we got him out early."

Bollinger was not at his best in the one-day series, but the big left-armer becomes the senior new-ball bowler in tandem with Harris with the in-form Mitchell Johnson the world's best first-change.

"Not the best one-day series but you can't get four-for every game, it's just the way it is.

"Hopefully I'll do well in the test matches and try and get as many wickets as I can."

- © Fairfax NZ News