Hilditch urges Clarke to fire in Twenty20

Melbourne, Feb.2 (ANI): Australia's chairman of selectors, Andrew Hilditch, has urged Twenty20 captain Michael Clarke to transfer his batting form in the traditional formats into the shortest version.

Clarke was arguably his country's best Test batsman in 2009, with 1,042 runs for the calendar year, and his career averages of 50.19 in Tests and 42.65 in one-day internationals mark his prowess in both forms.

But his record in the booming Twenty20 format is mediocre in comparison, as he averages 19.63 after 19 games, has a strike-rate of just over a run a ball and has never passed 37 in 15 innings.

Ahead of Friday's match against Pakistan at the MCG, Hilditch said Clarke was a key part of Australia's plans to avenge poor results at the past two world championships.

Australia will head to the Caribbean in April hoping to better their efforts from last year, when they were knocked out at the group stage after reaching the semi-finals in 2007.

"It's going to be a very big tournament for Michael and he's really looking forward to it," Hilditch told AAP.

He added "He's one of the best players in world cricket at the moment in Tests and one-day internationals and we hope he can transfer that form into Twenty20." (ANI)