Clarke promises attacking and positive leadership

Michael Clarke has had successful times when in charge of the Australian team.

Michael Clarke will use the lessons learned from his previous captains when he leads Australia against Bangladesh in his first full series in the top job. Clarke's major duties start in Darwin on Saturday, when he steps in for the injured Ricky Ponting, and while he has thought of his predecessors, he also intends to follow his own instincts in the three matches.

"I've always played my cricket my own way and that's certainly the way I want to lead the team," Clarke, who guided the side during two one-day games in the West Indies, told the Sun-Herald. "I think I can do that, along with the help and advice of those who've come before me.

"I plan to be a captain who leads in the same style that I play. I feel that I'm an attacking and positive sort of player. I love the challenge of a hard-fought game of cricket. I like being the one who is responsible for making the right or wrong decision."

Clarke, who is now 27, has played under some of Australia's most successful leaders and he has thought of them when working out his own outlook. "There are strengths in each of the captains I've played under," he said. "I've had Waugh, Ponting, Warne - a lot of good captains, even at grade level. But the key thing I've learnt from a number of them has been to always be your own person.

"You need to back yourself 100% and always believe in yourself. You need to back your instinct. If you feel like you want to make a change or something, you have to back your own judgment and ability. That's certainly one of Punter's strengths and it's a strength of pretty much all the captains I've played under."

However, Clarke said he was prepared to go his own way. "The last thing I want to do is be like someone else," he said. Clarke's leadership record is currently unblemished after victories in two Twenty20 encounters and success in both the one-day games in the West Indies in July.