“One of the things I’ve always expressed through my career is I’ve been able to cop my fair share of criticism, whether it’s been fair or unfair I’ve copped it, but when somebody questions or insults my integrity and my credibility - that’s not for sale, that’s not on,” Clarke told Macquarie Sports Radio on Thursday. “I feel these days being a father I guess there’s going to come a day where I’ll no longer be on this planet but what I will do is my daughter will know exactly what I stand for. "She’ll know that a big part of my job as a dad is to teach her resilience but on the same hand I’ll make it clear to her that I don’t think it’s right or appropriate to insult someone’s integrity or credibility and be proud of what you stand for and what you believe in. “I think what Gerard has said is completely out of line, trying to blame me for cheating in South Africa is an absolute disgrace.”

Clarke isn’t seeking an apology from Whateley, saying he “couldn’t care less” about him, and he can’t see the firestorm surrounding their war of words ending any time soon. Gerard Whateley has taken Michael Clarke to task. “I’ll see him one day ... and I’ll say it to his face,” Clarke said. “I think it will continue unfortunately because people will misinterpret what I said or they won’t listen to my full 17-minute interview a couple days ago. “I read what ‘Painey’ [Tim Paine] has said and I agree 100 per cent with what he’s trying to do and I back him 100 per cent with what he’s trying to do as captain of Australia.

“That’s why I say if you listen to what I said in my interview, not once did I say cheating is fine, ball-tampering is fine, sledging or saying things personally is fine. "I’ve never and will never say that that stuff is completely fine. Playing the right style of Australian brand of cricket has nothing to do with breaking rules, breaking laws and sledging someone at all.” Clarke said playing “hard cricket” was the Australian way. “What it means is playing the style of cricket with good attitude, good intent, good aggressive body language but always playing within the rules,” he said. “I think that tough, aggressive, competitive, never-take-a-backward-step [attitude] does not mean cheating is fine, does not mean taking sandpaper onto a cricket field is fine.”

Clarke said the only people who were to blame for the scandal in Cape Town were Steve Smith, Dave Warner and Cam Bancroft who are all still serving suspensions. “You can blame culture, you can blame whatever you like, you can blame chairman of the board, the CEO, past captains, past coaches, past players [but] at the end of the day, three people made a decision that they have to live with for the rest of their life,” he said. Clarke insisted that if the national team played the game in the right way that the Australian public would respect and like them. Whateley also stood by his comments about Clarke on radio on Thursday morning. “My criticism of Michael Clarke was harsh and his reply was suitably severe," Whateley said on SEN.

“It’s a firmly-held belief that his misunderstanding of what happened in Australian cricket over the past nine months, and being wedded to an old idea that has proved to be the destruction of the team and it dates back to his time as captain. “I never said that he was responsible for what happened in South Africa, but where Australia became a reviled cricket team, that dates back to his time as captain and it continued on from there. “Australia’s quest is to indeed restore respect but without being reviled and that was the dissent that began under Clarke. “Mitch Johnson has written about the toxic culture that developed under Clarke’s leadership and collapsed in the sense of team that left some not even wanting to play.” The former Test skipper unleashed an epic Instagram rant on Wednesday, labelling Whateley a "headline chasing coward" for his assertion Clarke had a hand in the lead-up to the ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town.

Loading "Perhaps if he was talented enough or courageous enough to make it onto a cricket pitch he would have a better perspective than from behind a microphone," Clarke wrote after listing several "facts" throughout the open letter. Clarke added in the letter: "If you think that the current No.1 team in the world of cricket right now puts being liked as of higher importance than being respected and playing to win inside the rules of our game than [sic] you're as delirious as you are ill informed". Former opener Matthew Hayden was one ex-teammate to publicly back him despite the New South Welshman’s long-time rival Simon Katich arguing he’d missed the point.

"When the cultural review identified the phenomenon of the gilded bubble where elite cricketers existed in a parallel universe blessed with wealth and privilege oblivious to outside perception and influence, it should’ve posted a photo of the former captain," Whateley said. "Clarke’s interpretation of the predicament the Australian men’s Test team finds itself in is breathtaking. "That he would continue to rely on the line – the fiction his and subsequent teams used to excuse all manner of boorish behaviour – might be the single greatest piece of nonsense over the past nine months. "Australia didn’t know what or where the line was - that’s how it ended up with sandpaper on the field. "Tim Paine’s Australia isn’t trying to be the most liked team in world cricket.