Jones seconded schoolboy''s advise to Clarke

Melbourne, Jan 21 (PTI) The Geelong schoolboy who shot tofame after advising struggling Michael Clarke on his battingtechnique is spot on in his judgement, says former Testcricketer Dean Jones.

Daniel Brew gatecrashed a pre-match press conference atHobart yesterday and was courageous enough to ask theClarke what he needs to do to rectify the follies in histechnique.

Clarke who seemed to be "shocked" at the 17-year-old''sgesture said, "What do you think I should do?"

"I said, ''You should be playing the ball under your noseand at eye level.'' He said he would work on it in the nets,"the teenager, who plays for Grovedale fourths in a Geelongcompetition, told Sydney Morning Herald today.

And Jones seconded the teenager''s view, saying, "He''sright. He''s got some fair points."

"I think (Daniel) is just being honest with how to play.

Sometimes the truth is the hardest pill to swallow," added theformer Australian batsman.

Clarke, however, seems to have neglected the youngstersadvise as he managed only 10 runs before cutting a TimBresnan delivery straight into the hands of Ian Bell at pointduring the second ODI against England at Bellerive Oval today.

Daniel, who was in Hobart with his father for today''smatch, said Clarke broke his pledge to work on his advice "inthe nets".

Asked about Clarke''s continued run of misery, Jones saidthe right-hander had "diver''s boots on - in other words,his feet aren''t moving anywhere."

"If your head moves to the ball, then your feet willfollow ... Your feet don''t go first, your head does," he said.

Emphasising on the fact that Clarke should look to playwith an uncluttered mind Jones said the middle-order batsman"to get all the rubbish between the ears out and play eachball on its merits".

"That''s all the kid''s talking about when you look at it,"he said.

"It''s MCC coaching-manual stuff. The game hasn''tchanged in 150 years. I don''t know if Michael''s not trustingJustin (Langer, Australia''s batting coach), but he needs to goback to his old coach Neil Dacosta and work on the simpleparts of the game," Jones added.

Clarke has off late been speaking to Michael Slater andIan Healy to turn around a disastrous run of form.