Not much skill gap between top 16 Oz cricketers: Clarke

Sydney: Skipper Michael Clarke continues to insist that there is not much skill gap between the top 16 players in the country.

He also supports the view that rotation is a good thing, though the Australian public might disagree. Clarke feels that the four to six players who represented Australia a decade ago such as Mathew Hayden, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne were great performers, and even at 80 percent fitness, would still be able to deliver at the international level. "Where we sit now as a team is, it is a lot different to that. The gap between the 11 players that take the field and the 12th-16th player is quite close,” news.com.au quoted Clarke, as saying. He said that there was no point in risking a player if he was not cent percent fit, as it would affect the team. Reputation was not a matter of consideration in team selections anymore, Clarke added. ANI