Michael Clarke scores 'rusty' 48 on first-class return

Former Australian captain Michael Clarke has described his 48-run knock in his comeback match in Sydney club cricket as 'rusty' on Saturday.

The 34-year-old, who retired from international cricket following the disastrous Ashes series in England last August, received two reprieves before he fell two runs short of completing his half-century for his old team Western Suburbs against Randwick-Petersham.

Reflecting on his comeback innings, Clarke admitted that his knock was not fluent enough but added that he felt nice to spend some time in the middle and score some runs, Sport24 reported.

Clarke, who guided Australia to their fifth World Cup triumph last year, had previously suggested that he might consider playing in lucrative Twenty20 competitions such as BBL and the Indian Premier League.

Clarke played in 115 Tests and 245 one-day internationals, while he only took part in 34 T20 internationals during his first-class career.