Former Australia captain Michael Clarke scored what he described as a "rusty" 48 in his comeback match in Sydney club cricket on Saturday.

Clarke, who left the top level of the game in August after the Ashes series defeat in England, was dropped twice early batting at No 3 for his old team Western Suburbs against Randwick-Petersham.

He was finally dismissed lbw trying to work a ball through fine leg to Sam Doggett just two runs short of a half-century.

Clarke was dropped at second slip before he had scored and was later put down again at second slip while on 30 in his 135-minute innings, which included seven fours.
"It was nice, I enjoyed it," said Clarke. "I batted for a good length of time and the body feels pretty good.

"My goal here is to come and try and contribute. Fortunately I made a few runs, I always want some more, but I'll worry about anything past that after this game.

"I didn't really have too many goals to be honest, it was more just to come back and play, walk out to the middle and as you would've seen there was certainly a bit of rust there.

"I didn't feel great, but it was nice to spend some time in the middle and score some runs."


Clarke retired after the 2015 Ashes series