Respected sports journalist “Gerald Wheatley” has publicly declined the opportunity to comment on this week’s announcement of Michael Clarke’s divorce, instead taking the moral high ground and respecting Clarke’s right to privacy. Clarke and “Wheatley” have a tumultuous past, with the pair being involved in a social media spat after the former Australian captain referred to the journalist as a “headline-chasing coward”.
While the saga only lasted a couple of days in 2018, it left an indelible mark in many cricket followers, with Clarke’s presumably deliberate misspelling of Gerard Whateley’s name remembered as a ham-fisted attempt to alpha the journalist in a similar manner to a well-timed “champing”. Rather than exert dominance, the move was interrupted more as a sign of Clarke’s inability to form a valid argument when confronted by a superior intellect, despite his forceful presentation of a list of “facts” to support his position.
When contacted by The Watsonia Bugle for comment on this week’s developments in Clarke’s private life, Whateley said, “I think I’ll respect Marcus Clerk’s wishes here and give him some privacy, the last thing I want to do is create more headlines with my overt cowardliness. This is a private matter, and should be treated as such.”
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