Clarke awarded MCC Life Membership

Former Australia captain Michael Clarke has received one of the greatest honours in cricket, after being awarded Honorary Life Membership of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).

Clarke joins the likes of legends Dennis Lillee, Allan Border, Ricky Ponting and Jason Gillespie among the Australians to have received the honour.

The 35-year-old, who retired from international cricket in August last year following the fifth Ashes Test at The Oval, was given the honour after a career that saw him score 17,112 international runs across all formats of the game, averaging 49.10 in his 115 Test matches.

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One of his 28 Test centuries came at Lord's – 136 scored against England in 2009 – and overall, he scored 416 runs in five Tests at the venue.

"This is a fantastic honour and I am delighted to become an MCC Honorary Life Member," Clarke said.

"MCC is the most prestigious cricket club in the world and to be invited to become a Member is a great privilege.

"Lord’s has always been a very special place to play cricket, and I’ve got some great memories of playing there so I’m really looking forward to coming back as a Member of MCC.”

MCC Head of Cricket John Stephenson welcomed Clarke to the Club that includes more than 300 Honorary Life Members and 18,000 Full Members.

“Michael has been a fantastic servant to Australian cricket and has a brilliant record in Test match and ODI cricket," Stephenson said.

"He joins a long and illustrious list of Australian Honorary Life Members and is very deserving of his place among them.”

Honorary Life Membership is awarded by the MCC Committee to individuals in recognition of the service they have given to the cricket and projects surrounding the game.