Stuart Rupert Clark (born 28 September 1975) is an Australian former

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who played for

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and the Australian team. He was a right-arm fast-medium bowler. His nickname "Sarfraz" originates from the similarities of his bowling style to Sarfraz Nawaz. Clark was also a member of the Australian team that won the

2007 Cricket World Cup The 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup was the ninth Cricket World Cup, a One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament that took place in the West Indies from 13 March to 28 April 2007. There were a total of 51 matches played, three fewer than at the 2 ...

Personal life

Clark is the son of

Anglo-Indian Anglo-Indian people are a distinct minority group, minority community of mixed-race British and Indian ancestry. During the colonial period, their ancestry was defined as British paternal and Indian maternal heritage; post-independence, "Angl ...

parents; his father Bruce Clark is from

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

and his mother Mary (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Boosey) is from Kolar Gold Fields (K.G.F). Clark finished a Master of Commerce, majoring in

finance Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and Academic discipline, discipline of money, currency, assets and Liability (financial accounting), liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business administration, Business Admin ...

, in 2009 and then completed a degree in law at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

. He worked as a real estate agent for 5 years before he pursued cricket. Clark is married to Michelle, with whom he has three children.

Domestic career

New South Wales

Clark started out playing first-grade cricket for Sutherland District Cricket Club, opening the bowling with Glenn McGrath in that club's Sydney Grade Cricket grand final win in the 1995–96 season. Clark made his first-class debut with the New South Wales Blues on 4 February 1998 against

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

at the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in the Moore Park, New South Wales, Moore Park suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australi ...

. He had a poor debut season, taking only 4 wickets at an average of 76.75. First-class Bowling in Each Season by Stuart Clark
Cricket Archive. Retrieved 31 December 2007 The 1998–99 season also saw Clark struggle as he took only 2 wickets at an average of 220.50. After his first 7 first-class matches, Clark averaged 124.66 with the ball. His poor performances led to him being dropped during the 1998–99 season and he did not play a first-class match for over 2 years. Clark returned for New South Wales in the 2000–01 season and enjoyed a solid comeback season, taking 8 wickets at 25.75 in the 3 matches he played. After these performances, he retained his place in the side for 2001–02, a season which would prove to be his breakthrough one. Clark played 9 matches in the season, taking 45 wickets at an average of 23.26. He claimed four 5 wicket hauls and finished second behind Australian paceman

Michael Kasprowicz Michael Scott Kasprowicz (born 10 February 1972) is a former Australian international cricketer, who played all formats of the game. He is a right arm fast bowler. He represented Queensland and played in the English county scene at first cla ...

in the leading wicket-takers list. With a promotion to a national contract, Clark had another strong season for New South Wales in 2002–03 securing 30 wickets at an average of 30.33. While the 2003–04 season was less successful for Clark, taking 23 wickets at 38.26, 2004–05 saw a return to form as he took 40 wickets at 24.77. Clark only played 4 matches for New South Wales in the 2005–06 season yet still managed to take 17 wickets at 22.05. Clark's full-time call up to the national team in 2006–07 also saw him play fewer matches in the 2006–07 domestic season, yet the three matches he played saw him take 21 wickets at 14.47. During this season, Clark recorded his highest ever first-class score with 62 off 43 balls against

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

at the Adelaide Oval. Clark brought up his half-century off 34 balls and his innings included 4 sixes and 3 fours. In the same match, Clark claimed his best ever first-class figures at the time, taking 6/39 in South Australia's second innings. In the next match he played for New South Wales, Clark exceeded these figures by taking 8/58 against

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

at the

WACA Ground The WACA Ground () is a sports stadium in Perth, Western Australia. The stadium's name derives from the initials of its owners and operators, the Western Australian Cricket Association (WACA). The WACA has been referred to as Western Australia' ...

. Clark ended up taking 10 wickets for the match, and his first innings figures included a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

, as he took the wickets of

Marcus North Marcus James North (born 28 July 1979) is a former Australian first-class cricketer who played 21 Test matches and two One Day Internationals (ODIs) for the Australian national side. Born in Melbourne, North grew up in Western Australia, att ...

, Adam Voges and Steve Magoffin in successive deliveries to reduce Western Australia to 4/2.

County Cricket

He had a run of injuries in 2003–04, but recovered to play

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

for Middlesex in England in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

. He played for

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

in the 2007 English cricket season.

Retirement

Clark initially announced his retirement from state cricket in May 2011 but continued playing on a "part-time" basis in the IPL and domestic limited-overs matches while juggling his position as a manager of new

Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

franchise

Sydney Sixers The Sydney Sixers is an Australian professional franchise men's cricket team, competing in Australia's domestic Twenty20 cricket competition, the Big Bash League (BBL). Along with the Sydney Thunder, the Sixers are the successors of the Spee ...

. He remained in the Blues' team sheet for the 2011–12 season as injury cover before retiring permanently from all cricket in February 2012. He ended his playing career on a high by leading his club side

Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

to Belvidere Cup triumph.

International career

Surprise inclusion in squad

In the 2005 Ashes series, in a shock decision, he was called into the

Australia national cricket team The Australia men's national cricket team represents Australia in international cricket. Along with England, it is the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, playing and winning the first ever Test match in 1877; the team also plays One ...

squad for the fourth and fifth

Tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

covering for Glenn McGrath and

Brett Lee Brett Lee (born 8 November 1976) is an Australian former international cricketer, who played all three formats of the game. During his international career, Lee was recognised as one of the fastest bowlers in the world. With his time representin ...

after they both suffered injuries; however, both McGrath and Lee overcame the injuries early and went on to play. Australia Chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said: ''We consider Stuart to be a similar style bowler to Glenn McGrath ... he is already in England and showing some good form, so we have selected him to provide some cover for the current injuries.''

ODI debut

In October 2005 Clark was again called into the Australian

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

ICC Super Series squad against the ICC World XI, covering Shaun Tait but did not play in the first match on 5 October. He made his debut later in that series, and also played against New Zealand in the 05/06 Chappell–Hadlee series. He had vindicated the decision of the selectors somewhat with his solid performances in the ODI arena, however many fans expressed disbelief at the fact that Clark was selected ahead of players such as Paul Rofe, Mick Lewis,

Jason Gillespie Jason Neil Gillespie (born 19 April 1975) is an Australian cricket coach and former cricketer who played all three formats of the game. Jason Gillespie was appointed as the head coach for Pakistan's red-ball (Test) cricket team on April 28, 202 ...

and Andrew Bichel who had been performing to a higher standard at state level. On 23 February 2007, Clark was named in the Australian World Cup Squad as a replacement for the injured

Early Test career

On 16 March 2006, Clark was included in the Australian Test squad, replacing Glenn McGrath (who was attending his sick wife Jane) for the tour of South Africa. He made his debut in the first Test at Cape Town. Clark had an immediate impact on the game, dismissing Graeme Smith early in South Africa's innings, on his way to five wickets. He captured another four in the second innings, to finish with match figures of 9/89 and the player of the match award. In the second Test at Durban, he took four wickets, and in the third Test at Johannesburg, he returned figures of 3/81 and 4/34. Altogether, he was the leading wicket-taker of the series with 20 wickets (at 15.85 average) and was voted player of the series. As expected Clark warranted selection for the Australian tour of Bangladesh which followed immediately after the South African whitewash However it was a forgettable tour for Clark who managed to pick up just one wicket in the first innings, and was overshadowed by recalled veteran Jason Gillespie. Clark was "released from duty" for the second Test as the Australian selectors decided to replace him with budding spinner Dan Cullen in Chittagong. However at the time, media reports stated that Clark was given compassionate leave to attend the birth of his son – Clark later suggested that the "rest" was not necessary in any case. However, by the end of the Bangladesh series, Clark maintained his spot above Jason Gillespie in the pecking order of Australian fast bowlers.

Ashes series 2006–07

Clark made his Ashes debut at the 'Gabba on 23 November 2006 in the 2006/07 series. In the first Test, he captured seven wickets as England fell to a 277-run defeat and performed similarly well in the second Test where he was the best of the bowlers as Australia triumphed by 6 wickets. Playing the final Test on his home ground in Sydney, Clark took 3 wickets in the first innings before striking 35 runs off only 47 balls with the bat in Australia's first innings. He ended the series with the most wickets (with 26 at an average of 17, which was twice as many as any English player managed) and the best strike rate of all bowlers, surpassing even retiring greats Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne.

Post-retirement

Clark was named general manager of

in May 2011 and held the position while playing part-time. He stepped down in November 2012.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Stuart 1975 births Australian people of Anglo-Indian descent Australian sportspeople of Indian descent Australia One Day International cricketers Australia Test cricketers Australia Twenty20 International cricketers Australian cricketers Australian real estate agents Cricketers from Sydney Cricketers who have taken five wickets on Test debut Hampshire cricketers Australian expatriate cricketers in England Living people Middlesex cricketers New South Wales cricketers People from the Sutherland Shire Sportsmen from New South Wales Sydney Law School alumni 21st-century Australian sportsmen