Over the last month cricket worldwide has been turned upside down.The underdogs are dominating and professional teams are recording all-time low scores. My observation is that when players retire, teams struggle to replace them and in addition T/20 has hindered Test cricket to the point that many Test games are finished after day four with a day still to play.It was merely a month ago when New Zealand beat Australia in a Test Match, shocking to say the least.The ridiculously low scores the batsmen posted were very concerning especially for the upcoming challenge they were to have from India.Even prior to that poor result, Australia had found themselves at their lowest, losing a Test to South Africa by eight wickets after posting a shocking and embarrassing 48 runs.Instead of axing players as is the norm in Bermuda, Australia put the team into a batting camp for an extended period of time to correct the flaws.Now in this Test match series it is obvious that they are reaping the rewards of hard work. One player in particular, Ricky Ponting, (whose head was on the chopping block) responded to his critics by scoring a century.There is a lesson to be learned by this and that is to let your bat do the talking. Young men take heed, when people criticise you the best way to respond is by answering them with a top notch performance on the field.Amazingly this was not the end of it, as Michael Clarke the Australian captain scored a mammoth 329 runs not out before declaring.His inning put Australia in command of the second Test against India.With Sir Don Bradman’s and Mark Taylor’s all-time Australian partnership record of 334 and Brian Lara’s Test record of 400 within grasp of his fingertips he chose to retire instead, putting the team victory before his personal goals and glory.What really baffles me is that there was still another two days to play. How many of us would have done that? I have to admit his choice left me in awe and I certainly gained a new level of respect for Michael Clarke and Australia.My personal belief is that all Australian cricketers have so much respect for Sir Don Bradman that none of them will ever break his record as years ago former captain Mark Taylor was in a similar position having tied the record of 334 and only needing a single run to surpass Don Bradman’s record, but he too chose to retire.Call it crazy, call it whatever you like, but I call it respect. I am clearly not a big fan of Australia, but Michael Clarke has definitely won me over after this occasion.However, from a purist perspective I truly believe Australia suffered from the T/20 syndrome.T/20 cricket has players thinking more aggressively when they bat in Test cricket, hence why we see so many low scores.Michael Clarke opted not to play in the T/20 games prior to the England Test so that he could focus his game and training around the Test mentality.Sri Lanka, I believe is another example of the T/20 syndrome being bowled out for a miserable 43 against South Africa.Some may not agree but I am lost for other sensible reasons for being bowled out for such unbelievably low scores. In the future it will not surprise me if more top teams/players follow Michael Clarke’s lead and simply choose which formats of the game they wish to play.Clarke to me is a true captain leading from the front in his preparations and his game play. He has proven to be a role model just like his predecessors, and our youngsters can take a lot from his experience and his lead. Respect is certainly at the top of the list for use on and off the pitch.Records are there to be broken, but Don Bradman’s will stand for a while longer.