Clarke given MCC honorary life membership

LONDON — Former Australia captain Michael Clarke was given an honorary life membership of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Tuesday. Clarke retired from international cricket last year after establishing himself as one of Australia's finest batsmen with 8,643 runs in 115 Tests. The 35-year-old follows in the footsteps of former Australia teammates Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Ricky Ponting, who are also life members of the MCC. Clarke scored 416 runs in five Test matches at the MCC's historic Lord's home. "This is a fantastic honor and I am delighted to become an MCC honorary life member," Clarke said. "MCC is the most prestigious cricket club in the world and to be invited to become a member is a great privilege. "Lord's has always been a very special place to play cricket, and I've got some great memories of playing there so I'm really looking forward to coming back as a member of MCC." Yorkshire signs Lehmann's son English county champion Yorkshire has signed Jake Lehmann, the son of Australia coach Darren Lehmann, until the end of the season. Yorkshire brought in Lehmann to replace Travis Head after the batsman was ruled out of the remainder of the English domestic season following his late call-up to the Australia one-day squad in Sri Lanka. Lehmann, whose father Darren scored 14,100 runs across all formats during a successful spell with Yorkshire, will be available to play in the remaining six County Championship fixtures as Jason Gillespie's side look to retain the title. The 24-year-old is due to fly from Adelaide Wednesday in time to make his debut against local rival Lancashire at Old Trafford Saturday after playing for Australia A against South Africa. Yorkshire head coach Gillespie played with Lehmann senior for both Australia and South Australia and he expects Jake to prove a valuable addition to the squad. "Getting a player of quality is always difficult at this stage of the season, but we're delighted to secure the services of Jake," Gillespie said. "Cricket Australia were fantastic to deal with and coordinating with South Australia went fantastically well and we were able to arrange for Jake to come over. "He's a great kid, gives the ball a whack and has shown good nous and awareness. Having worked with him at the Strikers he'll fit in to the changing room too, as all our players do."