An image of former Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke has sent fans — and AFL greats — spinning.
Clarke is currently a commentator for the Pakistan Super League and has been posting several photos of himself on Instagram during the tournament.
The 42-year-old has publicly battled skin cancer over the years and in November last year he became an ambassador for the Australian Skin Cancer Foundation.
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His skin can often seem a little weathered and blotchy but, judging from the recent photos, Clarke has been totally transformed.
And it’s just not his skin that seems shiny, new and radiant.
Clarke’s hair has been trimmed, dyed with blonde tips, and the little spikes — a look that he experimented with at the start of the 21st century — has returned.
He also appears to have shredded a few kilos.
But it was one photo in particular — where he is on-set behind the panel desk — that had everyone talking.
Although the screenshot appeared hot with light, a svelte Clarke looked almost unrecognisable.
The image caught the eye of Channel 7’s Tim Watson and Melbourne great Garry Lyon.
“Did you see Michael Clarke?” Lyon asked Watson on their breakfast radio show on SEN.
“Did you see that picture of Michael Clarke that’s doing the rounds?”
Watson had and he was gob-smacked.
“That’s not Michael Clarke. That’s a Michael Clarke look-alike. That’s not him,” the former Essendon superstar said.
Lyon said: “By jingoes … maybe it was a bad photo. It looked like he’d had a bit of touch-up.
“His hair was like silver and his face looked like a landing strip. Smooth. His face didn’t have a crease or crinkle on it anywhere.”
As a player, Clarke missed out on touring Pakistan due to the security concerns of the time.
“Thank you for having me. My first time to Pakistan,” he said.
“All those years, all those matches we played (against Pakistan) in the UAE or in Australia so it’s nice to be here and thank you everyone for having me.
“Pakistan always seem to produce talent and it’s no different now. So to get the chance to come to a tournament like this and to see some of their superstars on show, it’s a real honour to be here. And I think we see it in world cricket now. They are always competing with the best.
“Came to Australia recently and they were brilliant so it’s nice to be in their country.”
Clarke hit the headlines at the start of 2023 when a video of his infamous fight with Jade Yarbrough while on holidays in Noosa alongside Karl Stefanovic went viral.
He returned to cricket commentary in December last year.
