Hi George, Josh Clarke is your man

Paul Ryan | October 29, 2024

I read with great interest the following quotes from George Bailey as the Chief of the Australian Cricket selectors in the Sydney Morning Herald today.

Here’s a link to the article

Bailey was also open in calling for more Australian players to develop as left-arm spinners, after New Zealand’s Mitchell Santner was instrumental in engineering India’s first home series loss since 2012.

“I’m happy to very much throw it out there that it is an incredible skill set in the subcontinent and we’ve seen that for many years,” Bailey said. “Realistically there’s not a huge amount of players in domestic cricket that are doing it, so it’s something we’re looking to expose.

“It’s certainly one of the reasons why we’re excited about Cooper Connolly and his journey, still very much a work in progress with his left-arm spin.”

George, Josh Clarke is your man.

Josh is a top-order left hand bat who has just clicked over 30 years of age and has scored over 10,000 runs in NSW Premier Cricket, including 26 centuries. He bowls left arm orthodox and has taken over 200 wickets in NSW Premier Cricket first grade.

Josh is also a terrific athlete and an outstanding fielder in any position.

I’ve thought for a long time that Josh would be ideal as a second spinner for NSW and batting in the top 6. Mark Waugh and Andrew Symonds are great examples of test batters who could bowl spin and add another dimension to a cricket team.

Josh has all the runs and performances on the board; he has the experience, is brilliant in the field, and bowls left arm orthodox. A skill many batters struggle against.

With Australian selectors seemingly on the lookout for a player who can fill a Jadeja-type role, particularly in the subcontinent, Josh Clarke could be the perfect fit.