His partner has lost control of her current predicament partly by taking dismal advice in his absence. She needs him desperately.
It might have reached such a point that the relationship is on the brink of collapse. In something akin to these circumstances Michael Clarke left the tour of New Zealand to be with fiancee Lara Bingle.
This apparently makes him unfit to captain the Australian cricket team. Should dash his hopes immediately. His priorities are askew. He is in the spell of a notorious temptress.
Excuse me? Which decade are we living in?
Mark Waugh was the first to condemn Clarke: "His personal life has encroached on his cricket. That's not the way you want to be playing your cricket and living your life."
Read that sentence again. Not a lot of perspective here. Move along.
Ian Chappell says it should count against Clarke when the ledger is balanced to choose the next Test captain. "Stability and durability." That's what you need.
Clarke has had two girlfriends in his adult life. He would appear to be dependable and loyal. If he's faithful as well what a trifecta that would be in an elite sportsman.
Peter Roebuck thinks it's time to decide. Lara or Australia? Presumably he still fumes that John chose Yoko ahead of The Beatles.
Clarke has done what any decent husband or boyfriend should but too many of us struggle with. He's put family ahead of work.
Temporarily. Just a little bit of time to tend to what really matters. His life. Rather than his job.
Incidentally, the very same people speaking in grave tones about Clarke's flight believe the one-day series currently being played to be utterly meaningless. The sort of fodder ruining cricket.
All of a sudden the word "crucial" is being attached to the assignment he has left.
The subtext at play is that the 22-year-old model isn't fit to be the wife of the Australian cricket captain. Precisely where the required qualities for such a post are laid out is difficult to pinpoint. There's not even a scant reference in Lady Lupins Guide to Etiquette.
In this case it's Bingle's shortcomings that are being cited to prohibit Clarke from holding office. It's hard to come up with a precedent for such thinking.
The indiscretions of Wayne Carey and John Terry are examples of the circumstances that disqualify a person from captaining a sporting team. No-one will quite say it but it's written between every line: those involved think Australian cricket would be better off without Lara Bingle. But selectors have no power in this matter.
(By-the-by how a photo of a model in the shower taken by a meat-head Aussie Rules footballer four years' earlier delayed the announcement of the Test cricket team is mind-bending.) The only question for Clarke to answer privately is whether he loves his girlfriend for who she is and whether he wants to spend the rest of his life with her. It's the same question young men the world over grapple with.
It's not a matter former captains and cricket commentators should concern themselves with. When it comes time to replace Ricky Ponting Cricket Australia should consider only a man's character and nous. On the issue of character this week Clarke has shown himself to be a man with perspective and values.
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