Michael Clarke clears air over Sydney Thunder deal I will always be loyal to Sydney Thunder. I love playing for NSW as much as I do Australia": Michael Clarke. Australian captain Michael Clarke has broken his silence on his role with the Big Bash League's perennial battlers the Sydney Thunder, revealing he did not sign to play for them this season because of his commitment to the national team. Thunder chief executive Nick Cummins said last week that Clarke was a committed member of the franchise but his future with the team would be reviewed "collaboratively." However, Clarke, a national hero after leading Australia to a 5-0 clean sweep over England in the Ashes series then regaining the ranking as the world's top one-day side, told Fairfax Media he had a marketing deal with the lime greens, who, before Saturday night's match against the Sydney Sixers, had won only one game this summer. "I think I have been loyal to them - I'm a western suburbs boy and I have tried to show my loyalty there," Clarke said. In my current contract with Sydney Thunder it says I won't be available for any games of cricket so I signed a marketing contract for them. Hopefully one day that changes and I can play a few games but right now because of my schedule with the Australian team - and that is my priority - I'm limited to a lot of marketing for Sydney Thunder and I am upholding my contract. Clarke said loyalty was the foundation stone for not only cricket but his life. "I'm loyal," he said. I'm a proud Western Suburbs grade cricketer - I've been at one club my whole life. I love playing for NSW as much as I do Australia and Spartan is the second [bat] sponsorship I've had and the reason that changed was because there were a lot of things going on with Slazenger but I was extremely loyal to them. While Clarke was the toast of Australian cricket after the Ashes whitewash and revival of the one-day team as a force, he said he had never confused his career as a popularity contest, even as a rookie. Before the summer, in which the Australians displayed an old-fashioned ruthlessness to destroy England, some critics thought Clarke was too nice to hold the post. While Australians had enjoyed watching him turn the screws on England - and they've let him know it in the most flattering of ways - Clarke insisted he had never strayed from the course he plotted for himself as a young player. "Throughout my whole life I've copped criticism, whether rightly or wrongly," he said. I think I have learned to deal with that - it's part of the gig. You accept it and get on with life. I have a lot to smile about in my life. I'm extremely lucky. I'm fortunate to play for Australia and if it takes copping a bit of criticism to do what I do, well, I think I'm one of the lucky ones. It's about understanding - and accepting - that when you play international sport people will criticise you but like I said at the start of my career, and my captaincy as well, it's about respect. It's not about being liked, it's about people respecting you. Clarke stressed that he had only ever felt support from the public, and while he obviously appreciated the way in which he was now viewed as a genuine leader after thumping Alastair Cook's tourists, he believed he'd worked hard to earn that respect since scoring 151 in his Test debut against India a decade ago. "I played 100 Test matches so I think I earned that over my career," the 32-year-old said when asked about the sense of feeling respected. I think the support since I took over the captaincy has been great. What you read in the media is not always an indication of how much support or how negative things are. I think there's a lot of the public who were extremely supportive but that wasn't reported.