Cricketer Michael Clarke has confirmed his split from swimsuit model Lara Bingle, almost a week after leaving Australia's tour of New Zealand to sort out his troubled relationship.
"Michael Clarke and Lara Bingle have decided to end their engagement," a statement released jointly by their managers late on Friday said.
"They ask the media to respect their privacy during this difficult time. No further comment will be made."
Vice-captain Clarke rushed home from New Zealand last week to be with his 22-year-old fiancee after a nude photo of her in the shower taken by a former boyfriend appeared in a gossip magazine.
Bingle later told the same magazine, Woman's Day, she felt "violated" by the photo, taken during a brief affair in 2006.
As the media camped outside their Bondi Beach apartment, debate raged over 29-year-old's Clarke's suitability to eventually succeed Ricky Ponting as Australia's Test and one-day captain.
On Sunday media reports said Clarke, who has been named in a 14-man squad for the two-Test series against the Kiwis later this month, would fly out for New Zealand on Monday.
Clarke has played 58 Tests and 173 ODIs since his ODI debut in 2003 and has taken over from Ponting the captaincy of Australia's Twenty20 team.
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