At the end of 2007 Clarke left Surrey to become Derbyshire's club captain after feeling a change was needed, hoping he could impress the England selectors with his leadership.
He made an unbeaten 107 against Cambridge UCCE in his debut first-class innings and also scored 153 not out against Somerset, ending the season 711 runs at an average of over 50.
In 2006 Clarke was made the club's vice-captain, with the aim of giving him some experience of leadership to prepare him to take over the captaincy from Mark Butcher,[2] and later that year he led Surrey in the Twenty20 Cup.
[3] In the 2007 season, Clarke played only ten first-class matches for Surrey, scoring 301 runs and taking 15 wickets.
[5] In October 2007, it was announced Clarke had signed for second division Derbyshire as captain for the 2008 season, after having attracted offers from a number of clubs.
[5] Despite Clarke's high hopes, he experienced a poor run of form in the 2008 season that led to him quitting the captaincy.
[21] In 2017 Clarke returned to Surrey, as part of an exchange deal that saw Dom Sibley join Warwickshire.
[22] In 2018 he contributed to Surrey winning the county championship for the first time since 2002, and was nominated for the PCA player of the year award, claiming 49 wickets and scoring 500 runs.
[25] Some more good performances in the early part of 2003 brought Clarke his England debut, for the One Day International against Pakistan at Old Trafford.
A groin injury to Andrew Flintoff led to Clarke being drafted into the squad for the 2003/04 tour of Bangladesh, during which he made his Test debut at Dhaka.
At the end of that winter, England toured the West Indies, and Clarke was picked for five of the seven ODIs.
There was speculation he would be dropped from the ODI team, but injuries to Flintoff and Marcus Trescothick provided a reprieve.
In summer 2004 Clarke was included in the ODI team that faced West Indies at Leeds, but conceded 30 runs from four overs.
He was then recalled to England's one-day squad, playing against Pakistan at Lord's where he scored 39 in difficult conditions.