Rikki Clarke

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Rikki Clarke England (Eng)

Batting style	Right-handed batsman (RHB)
Bowling type	Right-arm fast-medium (RFM)
	Tests	ODIs
Matches	2	20
Runs scored	96	144
Batting average	32.00	11.07
100s/50s	0/1	0/0
Top score	55	39
Overs bowled	29	78.1
Wickets	4	11
Bowling average	15.00	37.72
5 wickets in innings	0	0
10 wickets in match	0	N/A
Best bowling	2-7	2-28
Catches/stumpings	1/0	11/0
As of 9 November 2006 Source: Cricinfo.com

Rikki Clarke (born 29 September 1981 in Orsett, Essex) is an English cricketer.

After some fine performances in Surrey's championship-winning Second XI team in 2001, Clarke quickly established himself in the first team the following season. He made an unbeaten 107 in his debut first-class innings, against Cambridge UCCE and also scored 153 not out against Somerset, ending the season 711 runs at an average of over 50. He was awarded the Cricket Writers' Club's Young Cricketer of the Year award and the NBC Denis Compton Award for his achievements in 2002.

Some more good performances in the early part of 2003 brought Clarke his England debut, for the One-Day International against Pakistan at Old Trafford. Although he took a wicket with his first ball in ODIs (the first Englishman to achieve this feat for three decades) he had a poor match overall, being bowled behind his legs for a duck after playing a totally misjudged sweep and conceding 41 runs from his 7.2 overs. He was retained for the rest of the summer's ODIs despite a total of just three wickets and a high score of only 37.

A groin injury to Andrew Flintoff led to Clarke being drafted into the squad for the 2003/04 tour of Bangladesh and on this tour he made his Test debut, at Dhaka. An undistinguished match was followed by a better performance at Chittagong where he made 55 in the first innings and a quickfire 27 from 16 balls in the second helped set up England's match-winning declaration. He also picked up three wickets, returning a notable analysis of 7-4-7-2 in the Bangladeshis' first innings. He played in only the first of the ODIs against Sri Lanka, a disastrous ten-wicket defeat, and was not selected for any other international games on that tour.

At the end of that winter, England toured the West Indies, and Clarke was picked for five of the seven ODIs. He failed completely, not reaching double figures in any of his four innings and taking 3-108 from the 18 overs he was allowed. By the time the tour finally finished in early May, Clarke's international career looked in serious jeopardy, but he was given one more chance by injuries to Flintoff and Marcus Trescothick early in the summer of 2004. Clarke was included for the Leeds ODI against the West Indians, but another failure (conceding 30 runs from four overs) followed, and the selectors had seen enough: Clarke was dropped and has not played for England since. His domestic form suffered that year as well, as he could manage a first-class batting average of only 31.17 and just nine wickets all season. His one-day performances were even worse, as he passed fifty just once in 11 innings.

He enjoyed a better 2005 however, and earned a trip to the Academy.