Striking Klinger finds form in the Big Bash
WITH the return of the hotly contested Big Bash League (BBL), so too comes the return to form of Adelaide Strikers gun Michael Klinger, who has amassed 42 runs in seven matches.
WITH the return of the hotly contested Big Bash League (BBL), so too comes the return to form of Adelaide Strikers gun Michael Klinger, who has amassed 42 runs in seven matches.
Klinger’s stellar knock of 71 not out against the Hobart Hurricanes last week catapulted him into the top 10 on the list of most runs scored, alongside the likes Melbourne Renegades’ Aaron Finch and Perth Scorchers’ Shaun Marsh. He would finish in seventh spot after his side failed to make finals.
“I don’t really look at the stats that much … [and] I feel like I probably have about 10 to 15 per cent in me to go better.”
The 2012/13 cricket season has started positively for the 32-year-old, who has hit 206 runs in five Ryobi One Day Cup games and 237 runs in the five Bupa Sheffield Shield matches.
And it’s the consistency that Klinger is most happy with, something he has been able to achieve since his move to South Australia in 2008.
“It’s something I pride myself on,” Klinger said.
“I’ve been able to do that over the last four or five years. But I’m a bit hard on myself, sometimes I could be doing a little bit better.
And in a huge fillip for the Victorian-come-South Australian, the English County Cricket side Gloucestershire recently appointed him as captain.
“It was obviously very appealing to go and captain a first-class team again, and be able to take my whole family over there,” Klinger said.
“And obviously I’m still dreaming of playing for Australia, and I think by being over there in England during the Ashes, and if I can finish the season well here and make some runs playing county cricket, you never know.”
Missing out on representing Australia in the short game has disappointed Klinger as well, after having several successful seasons playing for South Australia in the one-dayers and Twenty20.
“In terms of not being selected for Australia, I’m probably more disappointed about the one-day stuff,” Klinger said.
“Because I’ve probably been able to, in the last four of five seasons, perform well in that format. But hopefully if I can keep doing that in one-day and Twenty20 cricket, then maybe they’ll look at me at some stage.”
His stint in England will also mean that he will miss out on the Maccabiah Games in Israel in July.
Listen to the interview with Michael Klinger, available on the iPad app.
Ashley Shenker
Photo: SACA
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