Michael John Clarke AO is an Australian former cricketer. He was captain of the Australian cricket team in both Test and One Day International (ODI) between 2011 and 2015, leading Australia to victory in the 2015 Cricket World Cup.A batsman of great talent and enormous ambition, Michael Clarke emerged in Australia's golden years, was with them through the troughs that followed, and eventually led them back to the No.1 Test ranking. At his peak Clarke was ranked the best Test batsman in the world, testament not only to his skill but his hard work in overcoming a chronic back injury that caused him progressively more trouble as his career advanced.

Clarke was born and raised in Liverpool, New South Wales. He attended Marsden Road Public School and cultivated his batting skills at his father's indoor cricket centre in Liverpool after school. Despite being a left handed person who writes and bowls with his left hand, Clarke trained to bat right handed . His junior club was the Western Suburbs District Cricket Club. When Clarke was 17, scans revealed that he had three degenerative discs in his lower back, a condition that would restrict his back movement through his career. Clarke underwent core strengthening exercises to ease this condition.

Clarke made his first-class debut for New South Wales as a seventeen-year-old in a game against the touring Indian side at the Sydney Cricket Ground in December 1999. He was an AIS Australian Cricket Academy scholarship holder in 1999/2000. In 2002, Clarke played for Ramsbottom Cricket Club in English club cricket. He became the first player to hit a double century in the history of the Lancashire League.

Clarke made his One Day International debut in January 2003 against England at Adelaide Oval and made his Test debut at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore in October 2004, in the first Test match of Australia's 2004 tour of India. He was not confident that he could read India's spin bowler Anil Kumble's deliveries, so he moved to the pitch of the ball to eliminate the spin. He scored 151 runs and was named the player of the match in Australia's win. He continued to play well for the rest of the tour. Despite not being considered a strong bowler, he bowled in fourth Test match at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai and took six wickets for nine runs. This remained the best bowling performance of his Test career until he retired.

Clarke played his first home Test match against New Zealand at The Gabba in Brisbane. He scored another century, finishing with 141 runs, and was again named player of the match. After his early success in the team, Clarke began to struggle and didn't score another century in the following six Test series he played. His struggles began in the 2005 Ashes series in England. He played a strong innings in the 1st Test match at Lord's in July 2005, reaching 91 quickly. England responded with defensive bowling tactics to slow him down, and Clarke tried to improvise with aggressive shots and was dismissed.

He was dropped from the team following the first Test against the West Indies. Clarke focused on changing his batting technique to tighten his defence and play with a straighter bat. He performed well in Australian domestic cricket and returned to the national team in 2006. He next returned to the team for the 2006/07 Ashes series when Shane Watson was injured and unable to play. He scored centuries in the second and third matches at Adelaide Oval and the WACA, he scored back-to-back centuries to cement his place in the team.

Clarke then helped Australia retain the 2007 Cricket World Cup in the West Indies where they did not lose a game. After Damien Martyn's retirement he was elevated to number five in the batting line up. He had a superb tournament making four 50s including a 92 and a 93* against the Netherlands and South Africa. He also made an unbeaten 60 against South Africa in the semi-final to guide Australia into the final at Barbados, against Sri Lanka. Two weeks later he made 130 against India in the first of a seven-match ODI series.

In November 2007, Clarke notched up his fifth Test century against Sri Lanka in a two Test series. Clarke shared a 245 run partnership with Mike Hussey at the Gabba in Brisbane, Hussey departed on 133 but Clarke went on and had a partnership with Symonds who made 53*, the pair were unbeaten when Ricky Ponting declared the innings, Clarke top scoring with 145 not out. In January 2008, Clarke dismissed Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh and Ishant Sharma in the second last over of the day, with just six minutes remaining, to claim the final three wickets and win the Test match for Australia. Clarke's wickets ensured that Australia retained the Border–Gavaskar Trophy in 2008 and kept their world record equalling 16 match win streak alive.

After the retirement of Adam Gilchrist, in April 2008 Clarke was named vice-captain of the Australian side. Soon after Clarke joined up with the squad, he scored a century in the second Test in Antigua, going on to captain the side in the final two One Day Internationals, both of which were won. He was named man of the series in the two-Test series against New Zealand in Australia with scores of 110, 98 and 10, as well as being the top run-scorer in the three-Test series against South Africa in Australia. Clarke won the 2009 Allan Border Medal in a tie with Ricky Ponting both scoring 41 points, and was named Test Cricketer of the Year. For his performances in 2009, he was named in the World Test XI by the ICC.

When Ponting stood down from the captaincy of the Australian Test and ODI sides after the 2011 World Cup, Clarke was appointed as his permanent replacement in both. His knock of 151 against South Africa at Cape Town was nominated to be one of the best Test batting performance of 2011.

In January 2012, in the second Test of Australia's against India home series and after a string of Test centuries since becoming captain, Clarke became the first Australian batsman since Matthew Hayden in 2003 to score a triple hundred. He joined with Ricky Ponting (134) in a partnership of 288, then added 334 with Michael Hussey (150*) before declaring on 329*. This match against India was the 100th Test to be played at the Sydney Cricket Ground, and Clarke's score was both the highest ever made in an Australia-India Test (surpassing V. V. S. Laxman's 281 from the 2000/01 season) and the highest ever achieved at the ground. The ground high score record had been held for more than a century by Englishman Reg "Tip" Foster's 287 scored in the 1903/04 season. Clarke led Australia to a 4–0 win and was named the player of the series, having scored 626 runs at an average of 125.20.

He joined his triple century in Sydney with a double-century (210) in the first innings of the fourth Test in Adelaide. His 386-run partnership with Ponting (who scored 221) was the fourth-highest in Australian Test history. In November 2012, Clarke scored a double century against South Africa at the Adelaide Oval. After losing the 2013 Ashes in England, Clarke led Australia to a 5–0 victory in the 2013/14 Ashes series. Australia later gained the No. 1 Test ranking from South Africa after a long span of 4 years and 9 months.

Under his captaincy, Australia made their lowest Test score (47 all out) in 109 years, and shortest first innings (18.3 overs, 60 all out) in Test cricket history, and their worst-ever series defeat against India in Test history, which is also the first 4–0 whitewash for Australia against any side since 1969. Several of his teammates have criticised his captaincy. Mitchell Johnson described the team atmosphere as 'toxic' under his captaincy, while Michael Hussey described the dressing room was stressful and tense.

On the first day of the 2014/15 Test match vs India, Clarke scored 60 runs before suffering a back injury (a flare-up of his degenerative back condition). He retired hurt from the innings, but returned to batting the next day. Because of his injury, Clarke couldn't play in his usual style and focused on wrist-work. He scored a century, finishing his innings with 128 runs. This was the last century he scored in his career. Clarke captained the Australian team for 2015 Cricket World Cup. Clarke starred in the final against New Zealand, top scoring with a score of 74 off 72 balls, as Australia won their fifth World Cup title. He was bowled when nine runs were required to win. Clarke played 244 ODIs, made 7907 runs at an average of 44.42 with 8 centuries and 58 half-centuries. He led his country in 73 matches, of which Australia won 49.

Clarke captained Australia for the last time in the 2015 Ashes series. Clarke batted poorly during the series, failing to score above 50 in any innings. Australia lost the series after the fourth Test match at Trent Bridge with one match remaining. Following the match, Clarke announced that he would retire from international cricket at the end of the series.

Clarke won the Allan Border Medal, considered to be the most prestigious individual prize in Australian cricket, four times, in 2005, 2009 (jointly with Ricky Ponting), 2012 and 2013. Only Ponting had won it as many times. He was also awarded the Australian Test Player of the Year in 2009, 2012, 2013 and 2014. He won the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy, thereby winning the Cricketer of the Year 2013 and also the Test Cricketer of the Year 2013. In June 2020, Clarke was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in the Queen's Birthday Honours, "for distinguished service to cricket as a player at the national and international level, through leadership roles, and to the community." Three months later, he was inducted as a Cricket NSW Life Member.

Between 2016 and 2018, Clarke was a cricket commentator for Nine's Wide World of Sports. In 2020, Clarke began co-hosting the Big Sports Breakfast radio show.