Clarke hits ton despite the dramas

BY JONATHAN MILLMOW

Not bad for a bloke with a bit on his plate.

Arriving to a warm reception, Michael Clarke left to a rousing one last evening after he shrugged off his personal dramas to scorch to a century in the final session of the first day of the cricket test at the Basin Reserve.

Clarke stressed before the game that he was in the zone despite flying home to address a complex relationship, and he reinforced that with an innings that was initially cautious before he flicked a switch in the final session.

He went from nine to 100 not out between tea and stumps as he and the other Australian under the spotlight, Marcus North (52 not out), drove the Australians into the commanding position of 316-4.

New Zealand's promising day went belly-up as two men with a point to prove took toll of a tiring attack that was clueless in the 10 overs leading up to the second new ball. The choice of part-timer Martin Guptill to bowl the 76th over was effectively a waving of the white flag.

It wasn't always vintage Clarke. There was a clunk on the helmet and a top edge perilously close to the wicketkeeper but as always he used his feet well against spin and plundered loose offerings.

Clarke took 102 balls for his first 50 and just 39 balls for his second as he and North thrashed 140 in the 28.1 overs up to stumps.

He described reaching three figures on the last over of the day bowled by Brent Arnel as a "special feeling".

"It has been a tough couple of weeks but the support of family, friends and team-mates and the support from Lara [Bingle] has been tremendous and without her support I wouldn't be over here, so to all of them I thank them very much," Clarke said.

The Australian vice-captain arrived to warm applause from a crowd close to 3500 and said it was business as normal in the middle.

"The New Zealand guys were very respectful, there wasn't one word said about what has happened in the last two weeks.

"They obviously played very hard, as they always do, but the crowd and the New Zealand guys were fantastic."

Chris Martin was the man to trouble Clarke most, while Arnel often had Clarke mis-timing ball into the offside.

Clarke said reaching a hundred was the furtherest thing from his mind as he scratched around for 15 balls before getting off the mark.

"When I came off at tea [nine from 45 balls], I said to Justin Langer [batting coach], `how hard is this game' and he said to me it will turn around, and fortunately it did and I had a bit of luck and then the runs started to come.

"I probably got to the stage when I got to 80 – when I said to Northy I can't stop thinking about my 100 and he was very supportive. He said if you see it, hit it, so I played some horrible shots between 50 and 100 but I had some luck. I'm really happy I got there tonight."

Up until the final session New Zealand had eyeballed Australia for much of the day.

Debutant Arnel had a wicket in his first over and did a sterling job overall, Martin used the short ball sparingly but well, Daryl Tuffey bowled wicket to wicket but Tim Southee was unreliable.

Simon Katich (79) was the initial thorn in New Zealand's side but Arnel was rewarded for persistence. Katich was a mixed bag and probably needed to score a 100 to redeem himself after selling his skipper, Ricky Ponting (41), down to the river with a misjudged single.

- © Fairfax NZ News