Cricket legend Michael Clarke reveals joy and journey of fatherhood post retirement

To his nine-year-old daughter though, he is simply Daddy – a man Kelsey Lee describes as “funny, kind, thoughtful, amazing and very sporty”.

But his little girl will never see him at the top of his game like the world did, because he’s vowed to never play again.

“She’ll never see me play cricket unless she sees it on Google, YouTube, or something replayed on TV, because I’ll never play again,” he explains.

“I won’t play in the retirement leagues or the legend leagues are what they call them.

“I’ve got no interest in playing again so that was a part of my life and now I sit here and whatever she chooses to do, hopefully I’m there to support that like my parents were for cricket for me.”

Kelsey Lee is “very sporty” in her own way, as a besotted Clarke puts it.

“I love that she’s got her own sports,” he says.

“She is very sporty, she’s into swimming, athletics, cross country, dance, gymnastics; she is into all sport, but cricket just hasn’t been one of the things that she has picked up.

“And for me, I think that’s the most important thing. It’s her journey, it’s her life. And I think in time, she’ll probably learn more about what I used to do.”

They’re the best kind of yin and yang.

Clarke likes fashion basics in black and white while Kelsey Lee is into “colourful things”.

He likes to go for long walks, she doesn’t. She knows his strengths – and weaknesses.

“He’s just not good at doing hair – there’s bumps (in my ponytail),” Kelsey Lee smiles cheekily.

“He is good at styling himself but not styling me.”

“We like going to the movies, sometimes we like to chill in the pool and stuff. We go swimming, we go to TimeZone … tenpin bowling.”

Chess, too.

“Kels plays chess every Friday at school, she’s getting so much better,” Clarke says proudly.

“Daddy has got to keep training because I feel like I haven’t got much winning left in me.

“And you beat me at Uno, every time.”

At Clarke’s Sydney home ahead of Father’s Day, their strong bond is clear as they share in-jokes and laugh at their adventures.

This is the dad Kelsey Lee knows, although she is used to people coming up and asking him for a photograph when they are out in public.

“I see people do it a lot so I am used to it,” she says matter-of-factly.

It was only about two or so years ago that Kelsey Lee – who is in primary school (year 4) – understood her father’s past and why he is approached on the street or when they are at dinner together.

Cricket is not her thing.

“When my friend was playing cricket at school with the teacher, I was like, ‘it’s a 10’. And then my friend said, ‘there’s no such thing as a 10 in cricket’,” she says.

“We don’t really talk much about cricket,” Clarke continues.

“It is not because we don’t want to, it just never … you do gymnastics, you do dancing, they are the sports you love.

“You see daddy watching cricket on TV, cricket and rugby league I watch on TV, they’re probably the two sports you see daddy watching but we don’t really talk much about cricket.

“I think Kelsey Lee has probably heard more from other people (than from me) that I played cricket for Australia, but she can ask me anything she wants about it.

“She knows my love for cricket, but it’s not something that I’ve sort of needed to talk too much about.”

Cricket is still very much part of Clarke’s life.

He travels the world commentating and has a successful podcast, Beyond23, in reference to the number he wore playing one day international cricket.

Clarke inherited the No. 23 from his late friend Shane Warne.

Clarke’s biggest struggle is travelling, particularly for extended periods of time, such as when he is covering the Indian Premier League.

He has one rule though.

“Every morning and every night is compulsory on FaceTime, isn’t it?” he prompts Kelsey Lee.

“We like to say good morning and then we like to say good night before we go to bed so no matter where daddy is in the world, as long as we, even when the time difference is messed up, we still try and do those two things.

“We’re lucky with technology these days, FaceTime is unbelievable, WhatsApp, whatever it is, that video call to be able to see her is so important.

“It is the only thing I hate about my job, to be honest. At the moment I’m travelling nearly as much now as I was when I was playing.

“Any sort of TV work or commentary I’m doing, I’m going overseas. And then my podcast … I’ve just come back from London, and Sardinia … I’m travelling the world interviewing people. That’s the thing I don’t like about it. It takes me away from her and that is hard.

“But as Kels knows, daddy’s got to work, we’ve got bills to pay, and that’s my job at the moment so yeah … trying to find the balance.”

Clarke, 44, shares custody with ex-wife, Kyly 44, the pair doing week-on, week-off 50/50.

It can be challenging, he admits.

“At the end of the day, any family that separates when there’s children involved, as long as the child is the No. 1 focus, I think you manage everything else and I think we do that,” he says.

“We make sure that Kelsey Lee is the No. 1 focus on every occasion.

“I love that she wants to come home, come back here. Every week it is hard to drop her at school Monday morning and I can call her 50 times a day when she’s not in my care but it is still different when you’ve got her so I think it is important you want to leave wanting to come back.

“We miss each other.”

Fatherhood instantly changed Clarke forever.

He always wanted to be a dad and concedes he did dream about having a son follow in his footsteps one day.

“To see her (born), to hear her cry … now to have a little girl, I think it’s been a saviour.

“It has helped me so much. I probably needed it to soften me as well a little bit.

“I’m sure plenty of people think I need 10 more to soften me more, but yeah, I think it is my greatest achievement, what I’m most proud of.”

Navigating parenthood can be tough though. Ultimately, he has learnt a lot about himself too.

“A lot of the time the parents are meant to know better, but that’s not the case in our household with a lot of things,” he says.

“I think we all want to talk about the great things about having a child, because they are (great) – it’s as special a feeling as you’ll ever experience in your life, and they’re memories that you cherish, and time together is so special – but there’s also tough times as well.”

To this day, Clarke doesn’t sleep well for example, a hangover of restless nights when Kelsey Lee was a baby.

“If I go to sleep and wake any time after 1am, I can’t go back to sleep so I’m in the gym at 1.30, two o’clock in the morning while she’s still in bed because she was such a bad sleeper when she was young,” he recalls.

“My body clock, I fall asleep easy, but as soon as I wake, I can’t go back to sleep.

“It’s 99 per cent dream come true. But I think anyone that says it’s rainbows and butterflies is telling you fibs.

“(But) my favourite part of any day is driving her to school and picking her up from school – the simplest of things I cherish the most.”

As Kelsey Lee is getting older, her individual flair is coming out too. Despite being allergic to dogs and cats, she wants to work with animals when she grows up – or be a dancer or gymnast.

“Go you,” Clarke cheers on his daughter.

“You can do whatever you want. You are growing up fast.

“She’s got her own style. She knows who she is.

“She’s got the sports that she loves. She wants her bedroom to look how she wants her bedroom.

“So I think the balance between me learning what having a young girl is about and the importance of that, but also being her father, sometimes can be a tough balance but I love it.

“One of my blessings has been my partner, Arabella (Sherborne) has helped me a lot with that.

“She’s a woman who can see Kelsey Lee’s growth stage of life that she’s at and I think as a man having good people around you is so important.”

As for parenting style, Clarke is a “softie” but can be strict on things like homework and school. That surprised him.

“I didn’t love school – it really felt like a distraction from my cricket,” he admits.

“I know the importance of school.

“I probably respect the importance of it more now having a child at school, but I’m quite strict with how important school is, education.

“We both hate homework, don’t we? We don’t like homework, but we do it. And then I make her read every day. I care about her report card.

“I didn’t think I would be like that because I was pretty chilled naturally about that but then when you’re the parent and not the child, it changes.

“I can see clearly now what mum and dad were talking to me about daily, now being a parent.

“So yeah, I’m strict on a number of things, but I’m still a softie at heart, she’s got me wrapped around her finger and she knows that, she knows to play that game.”

A recent event on the school drop-off tested Clarke.

Kelsey Lee was “embarrassed” but not for the reason one might expect a kid to feel that way about a parent.

It was because “daddy was parking out of car line”.

“Kels is very strict on the rules,” he laughs.

“She likes daddy abiding by the rules and that is not one of daddy’s greatest strengths.

“On Friday she said, ‘dad, don’t you dare stop there, it’s embarrassing’ so I didn’t, I stayed in the car line and did as I was told, she bossed me.”

On Father’s Day, Clarke will keep it simple with his favourite food – a McDonald’s breakfast.

“I think I’ll have it again this year for Father’s Day. For me, it is about being together.

“I love celebrating milestones for people, her birthday, Christmas, Easter, that stuff I care about for other people.

“For me, as long as I am with the right people, I don’t necessarily need to do anything, so I would do whatever we did last year – that was perfect.”