Sports Desk:

Former captain Michael Clarke has been inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame. The 43-year-old is the 64th member to be included in the list.

Clarke accepted the honour on Thursday, nearly a decade after he closed the chapter on his remarkable playing career.

“To be able to sit along so many wonderful players, idols, role models growing up as a kid and looking up to is something I’m honoured by,” Clarke said. “Retirement does a lot of things to you. Through stages of watching cricket now, you miss parts.

“When you play at the highest level, people talk about your international career but for me, it started at six years of age. I retired at 34 so it was my life. It’s still a part of my life,” he added.

“Cricket – it’s probably so similar to life in general. You walk out and make 100 and then lift the bat, and then you walk out to field, field in slip and drop a catch second ball of the game,” said Clarke.

Making his first-class debut for New South Wales at 17, Clarke captained Australia to victory in the 2015 ODI World Cup and led the side across 47 of his 115 Tests.

Overall, Clarke scored 8643 Test runs, putting him sixth on Australia’s all-time list, and 7981 in ODIs where he stands fourth. His tally of 28 Test centuries also leaves puts him sixth on that list.

Having impressed early in his ODI career – he wasn’t dismissed in his first three innings – Clarke burst onto the Test scene during Australia’s 2004 tour of India, crowned the player of the match in Bengaluru after scoring 151 on debut.

He became the sixth Australian to score a Test triple-century after posting an unbeaten 329 against India at the SCG in the 2011-12 series.

Other standout innings included the 151 against South Africa at Cape Town in 2011 (from a total of 284) in the game Australia were later dismissed for 47, his 161 at the same venue in 2014 when he defied a broken shoulder to set up a victory that would take Australia to No. 1 in the world and the hugely emotional 128 against India at Adelaide in 2014 shortly after the death of the Phillip Hughes in what would prove his final home Test.

Clarke also proved capable as a left-arm spinner. It was his spell of 3 for 5 in 1.5 overs in 2008 against India that helped Australia retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and extend their winning streak to a record-equaling 16 Tests. In his debut series against India he had also taken 6 for 9 in Mumbai.