Michael Clarke retires from international cricket!

A right call? Time will tell.

Australia captain Michael Clarke has confirmed he will retire from international cricket at the end of the ongoing Ashes series. A beautiful journey comes to an end! The two-time World Cup winner calls it time on international career.

After a three-year apprenticeship as vice-captain, Clarke replaced Ricky Ponting as captain in April 2011, and made his first Test tour as full-time leader to Sri Lanka that August.

From then on, though he had a poor overseas record as a captain, he managed the team perfectly. Australians were almost unbeatable on home soil. Clarkes’ unexpected field changes that brought in important wickets and his tactics will be remembered by the cricketing fraternity.

"I'll have one more Test and that will be the end of my career," Clarke told Channel Nine after the loss. "I'm retiring from international cricket. I certainly don't want to jump ship and leave the boys now, so I'll play the last Test at The Oval, give it one last crack, but the time is right now."

"You never want to walk away from the game but I think my performances in this series and the last 12 months have not been acceptable to me. I pride myself on leading from the front, so that's been disappointing. You build yourself up for the big series, the big tournaments. One-day cricket is about the World Cup and Test cricket is about the Ashes.

"I certainly tried my best, the boys tried their best and we got outplayed. We got beaten. Now it's time for the next generation of players, the next captain to have his opportunity to try and build the team and get them ready for the next Ashes series."

"I've been lucky enough to play over 100 Test matches for Australia," Clarke said. "I've always said the game owes me nothing, I owe it everything. I'm thankful I've been able to play it for so long.", he added.

So that was about Clarke. Now the focus shifts to Oval where the fifth and last test will take place. England having regained the urn will look to finish on 4-1 while the Aussies will try and give Rogers and Clarke a fitting farewell.