Wayne Clark (cricketer)

Wayne Maxwell Clark (born 19 September 1953, Perth, Western Australia) is a former Australian cricketer who played in 10 Tests and 2 ODIs from 1977 to 1979.

Clark made his first class debut in 1974-75 and replaced Mick Malone for a game in 1975-76. However he was not a regular member of the West Australian team until 1976-77 when he took 25 wickets at 26.96.

In his first eight first class games he took 30 wickets at an average of 28. He was part of the WA attack who defeated Queensland in a Gillette Cup semi-final, defending 77.

Clark's efforts saw him receive an offer from Kerry Packer to be a part of World Series Cricket (WSC). He eventually turned it down. Clark's business adviser, Mr Bert Hewitt, said a "sense of sporting patriotism and loyalty" was the overriding factor for this.

Clark took eight wickets in the first two games of the 1977-78 summer at 32.63 and was rewarded by selection in the Australian side against India for the first test. The bowling attack consisted of Clark, Jeff Thomson, Alan Hurst and Tony Mann. Clark had an excellent game, taking 4-46 in the first innings (including the wickets of Sunil Gavaskar and Moinder Armanath) and 4-101 in the second (including Gavaskar again and Dilip Vengsakar). His second innings knock of 12, including a 31 run partnership with Jeff Thomson, proved unexpectedly crucial as Australia won by 16 runs.

There were press reports about the legitimacy of Clark's action. "I don't know that all the fuss is about", said Indian captain Bishen Bedi. "None of our officials or players have said they consider Clark throws the ball — it's something that has been blown up by the Press".

Clark had a strong second test, taking 2-95 and 2-83 (Gavaskar in both innings) with useful scores with the bat of 15 and 5 not out - the latter was important as he and Jeff Thomson chased down the 12 runs to win with two wickets in hand. He kept his place for the next two tests.

In the third test Clark took 4-73 and 4-96, but Australia's batting was not as strong an India won by 222 runs (Clark's second innings score of 33 was Australia's second highest). He took 2-66 in the fourth test, but India won by an innings and 2 runs. He suffered a bad back injury that saw him miss a Shield game. He recovered to play a Gillette Game against NSW, taking 4-20 off 7.2 overs and winning the man of the match award.