Clarke feels rusty on return to cricket

Sydney, Feb 20.  After scoring 48 on his return to club cricket on Saturday, former Australia captain Michael Clarke said he felt "quite rusty".

The right-hand batsman turned out for his boyhood Sydney grade club Western Suburbs against Randwick-Petersham in front of around 500 people at Pratten Park. "I was quite rusty, to be honest," Clarke was quoted as saying by the Guardian.

"The reason I have come back is because there is certainly a big part of me which has missed the love of the game. It was a nice feeling walking out there and Randwick-Petersham are quite competitive, so it was a nice feeling,” he said. The 34-year-old has refused to rule out a possibility of making a comeback for the national team and has also been linked with T20 tournaments around the world but Clarke says he does not know yet if and when he will next go out to bat.

"Who knows? I need a couple of days," Clarke said.

"Let me play today, play tomorrow, pull up Monday and Tuesday and then I will see how I go. The boys have already told me the club is playing Northern Districts next week and they’re here again, but it’s one game at a time. Let me play this game and I will assess then." Clarke was dropped twice in his knock but his 135-minute stay at the crease saw him hit seven boundaries.