There are tripods and video cameras strewn everywhere. Old club stalwarts look on bemused as journalists bustle around, trying to look important.

There can be no doubt about it: Michael Clarke has definitely arrived back in Sydney club cricket.

Australia's former cricket captain is making his second return to Grade cricket - now called Premier cricket - playing the first of three games for the club where his career began, Western Suburbs.

Today, he is facing up against Mosman, in front of a crowd of around 300 or so.

With a small changing room and a sausage sizzle in the lunch break, it's a far cry from Test cricket. But Clarke says he's playing because it's something he always wanted to do: a chance to get back to his roots after his career and enjoy cricket again.

Some think it may be the first step of a comeback, to play overseas in a lucrative Twenty20 league or two.

One of many

Greg Mail preparing to bat for Sydney University. ( ABC: Andre Leslie )

On the other side of Sydney, it is fair to assume that Greg Mail has got other things on his mind.

Like Clarke, the 38-year-old former New South Wales batsman is gearing up for his first match of the season too, playing for Sydney University against Campbelltown. Today marks his 350th game in first grade, an incredible feat of endurance.

"I actually know Pup pretty well," Mail says ahead of the match. "We played our first season of state cricket together, way back in 1999."

"I didn't expect him to come back to club cricket, but I think it's fantastic for everyone, for the competition."

Michael Clarke in Western Sydney colours. ( ABC: Andre Leslie )

In contrast to Clarke, who retired from the baggy green last year, Mail gave away his state career at the age of just 31. Back then, he wasn't sure whether he was going to get dropped from the state side, so he took a job at a bank, just to be sure.

Since then he has been piling on the runs at every cricket ground across Sydney and is the highest-ever run scorer in the history of the competition - but he is hardly a household name.

"You're not playing club cricket so people get to know you, that's for sure," Mail explains. "You do it for other reasons."

For him, it's about the camaraderie and the thrill of helping your team to success, and it is rewarding in other ways too.

"These days it's nice to be a leader to the younger guys and give back to the sport, after spending so long focusing on myself and my own performance."

Keeping players in the game

A quiet day's cricket at Mosman CC. ( ABC: Andre Leslie )

But when you look around local cricket competitions across the country, many former national team players of the last five or ten years are often nowhere to be seen.

They may be fit enough, but they obviously have better things to do - like earning a living or finally spending time with their family.

It is a trend the Australian Cricketers' Association is trying to counter, with its new Premier Cricket Program. In return for a modest wage, ex-pros get a chance to take an active role in a Premier cricket club, either as a player or coach, or both.

"This is something that's meant to look after the past and the future of cricket," explains Brendan Drew, a former Sheffield Shield bowler for Tasmania who's now in charge of the nationwide program.

"There was a feeling before, that it was too hard to keep these players involved."

"Now, everyone's bought into it, and they're going about it the right way," he says.

A Sydney University team briefing. ( ABC: Andre Leslie )

The money for the project comes directly from earnings from the current crop of professional players at the top of the game. This season, 111 former top cricketers are involved nationwide.

But Drew, who still plays himself for the Camberwell Magpies in the Victorian Premier competition, says there is still room for improvement.

In Mail's case, he will play on for as long as the mind and body are able.

"If you're not excited by August and September time about playing with your mates again, then it's clearly not going to work."

"I've been lucky to play in a very successful team at my club. It's easy to keep enjoying it all, while you are still winning."

Clarke's Western Suburbs club will hope he can get them started on a winning streak.