Cometh the hour, cometh the man: Michael Clarke's singing blade carries hopes of a nation HE neither administrates nor legislates, but Australia cricket captain Michael Clarke stands alone as a levee against the surging tides of mediocrity threatening the nation's favourite sport. It is hard to imagine a time when one batsman was so important to the game - perhaps only Don Bradman, who contributed such an unequal proportion of a side's runs on such a consistent basis to his team's tally. His dancing feet and singing blade can brighten the darkest of Australian cricket's woes and tame the most malevolent attacks. The most influential people in Australian Sport It is, however, more than just control of his craft that Clarke has brought to the game since assuming the captaincy in late 2011. Michael Clarke as leader has exceeded expectations. No, make that smashed them, remorselessly and relentlessly. The bleating noise of "public opinion" - as represented by the popular media's opinion makers and internet push-polls - has been silenced and treated with the same disdain a batsman at the top of the game treats any amateur long hop. His actions and his time in the middle have turned the tide. As captain he has shown a steady, creative and nuanced approach to the tactics and spirit of the game. Following the Argus review into cricket, Clarke was granted a seat at the selection table, a place none of his immediate predecessors enjoyed and a form of power that evolves from being in both the backroom and the shopfront. He captains the Test and one-day team at a time when the cricket calendar sees ahead a once-in-a-lifetime alignment of planets in the form of back-to-back Ashes series this year. After four Tests in India, Clarke will lead the side to the ICC Champions Trophy before the 10 games against England. The side he will head is a work-in-progress at best and his captaincy and batting will be critical to its fortunes. And, let's not beat about the bush here, swimmers can dope themselves until they drown, jockeys back themselves and football sides nobble themselves, but cricket is the game held closest to the nation's heart, and success or loss in the Ashes is almost mood-of-the-nation stuff. An essential part of the country's wellbeing index - if you will pardon the phrase. Cricket is at a critical juncture in its development. The traditional international game with its hierarchical structure built around the dominant long format is being challenged by domestic Twenty20 leagues. Everywhere traditionalists fret that priorities will be undermined and players lured away by the instant cash of the Indian Premier League and other such tournaments. At home the Sheffield Shield season - proving ground and preparation track for Test players in waiting - is suspended for two months at the height of the summer to allow oxygen for the fireworks and twinkling frippery of the Big Bash League. When the limping western Sydney franchise needed a branding makeover and star factor, Clarke was roped in. In what can be read as a subtle demonstration of his priorities, he didn't play a game for them that year. As a batsman he has shown a depth of talent that seemed inconceivable - improbable even. Clarke entered the game in an era when debuts were earned and not cast about in the hope that some seed would land on fertile soil. The Australia team of 2004 bristled with talent. Changes to the line-up were few and many a potentially great Test player remained just that. Seeds need not apply, sapling status was a minimum requirement. These are different times and during Clarke's two years in the big job, 12 players have made their debut. The side he captains in India today bears little trace of the great era. He admits to being emotional about losing greats from the team of his youth, but excited by the idea of having his own history to write with this outfit. "All the players I grew up with, watching and then playing with at the start of my career, that generation of players is gone," he said. That's been quite hard to see, that transition, that change, but on the other side I'm really excited about that because now we have the opportunity as a young team to create our own destiny, build our own legacy. We might never be the team that wins 16 Test matches in a row, but we might be. Clarke was joint winner of this newspaper's Australian of the Year honour in January. "I guess in a team sport it is always a lot different," he said then. I think the greatest compliment I could receive is for the team to win team of the year or something like that, because as captain of the team that would be the greatest compliment I could personally have. In a team sport you don't place too much recognition on personal achievements because you are so focused on winning or losing, but in saying that it is a remarkable honour. Clarke sees a big picture for Australian cricket and a role for himself in its future. A product of Sydney's western suburbs, his family owned an indoor cricket business when he was young. Fruit may not fall far from the tree, but he has a vision that far exceeds anything he learned from his father or any existing model the game has for talent development. Clarke has bought a large property in Berrima, a stone's throw from Bradman's home town of Bowral. The farm came complete with an existing cricket ground. He has already begun work to upgrade that with the aim of building a private academy and is in discussion with the nearby International Cricket Hall of Fame - formerly the Bradman Museum - to create a relationship between the two institutions. The tattooed Australia captain, Clarke is the leader of cricket's generation Y. The baby boomers are ceding their birthright to the game as surely as their parents' generation reluctantly handed it to them decades earlier. The elders' anxieties are replaying themselves, but in the new leader they sense traditional values that make letting go easy.