Clarke the future Oz captain, says Buchanan

Melbourne: According to former Australian coach John Buchanan, middle order batsman Micheal Clarke is the right candidate to lead Australia in the future. Buchanan said Clarke needs to be groomed by Cricket Australia and the team management for the future role.

"As I look at it, Michael Clarke is the person being groomed for the Australian captaincy. What needs to happen is we actually need to see him in that role. That might mean he captains his state side or takes more of a leadership position within the Australian team," Buchanan was quoted as saying by the Courier Mail.

If Cricket Australia plans to go by the former coach’s word and decides to take steps to groom Clarke as the future skipper of the champion side, Simon Katich may have to pave way for the 26-year old Clarke as the New South Wales captain.

"Michael needs to be given roles in terms of captaincy or vice-captaincy in certain (Australian) tours and let's see how he handles that," said Buchanan.

Buchanan also added that it may be worthwhile to give the post of vice-captaincy to Clarke if Gilchrist is not too keen to play ODI cricket for long.

"Adam Gilchrist has mentioned a couple of times that he may not choose to play one-day cricket and if that was the case, then Clarke should be the person given that (vice-captaincy role)," he said.

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