Hampshire new boy Michael Clarke has signed the biggest sporting brand sponsorship deal in Australian cricket history.

Right-handed batsman Clarke, 23, has agreed a three-year deal with Dunlop-Slazenger believed to be worth $1.25 million - despite the fact that he is yet to make his Test debut.

It is a deal that dwarfs the sponsorship Clarke's New South Wales captain Steve Waugh signed with bat maker MRF in 2001

The Australian one-day star, who is set to make his Hampshire debut alongside Shane Warne against Durham at the Rose Bowl on Friday, will become the new face of Dunlop Slazenger when his New South Wales teammate Mark Waugh retires.

Clarke, who arrived in Southampton with Shane Warne at the weekend before meeting his new teammates during the pre-season friendly against Kent at Canterbury, said: "There is a lot of pressure on me but I try not to see it that way because this is what I want to do.

"I hope people are expecting a lot of me.

"The money doesn't faze me because, money or not, I will do whatever I need to do to play for Australia."

Every major bat company in the world was chasing Clarke's signature.

"It is certainly the biggest individual deal we've ever offered," Dunlop-Slazenger Australasia general manager Mark Barry said.

"We were under some pressure to sign him early. His current sponsorship with us was due to be renegotiated in August.

"But there were several international brands having a big go, throwing big dollars at him.

"We're launching a $2.5 million campaign under the slogan 'the animal within you'.

"Our logo is a panther and Michael's cricket skills display those qualities."

Asked why Clarke's signature was so keenly sought even though he had not played a Test, Barry said: "He's already in the public eye and will continue to perform well.

"From what I can tell, he's probably been pretty unlucky not to have been selected yet."

A star at youth level, Clarke lived up to his billing as soon as he broke into the New South Wales team aged 18 - captaining Australia Under-19s in 1999/2000.

It wasn't long before he was attracting the attention of the senior national selectors.

When Mark Waugh announced his retirement from the international scene, Darren Lehmann and Martin Love were both selected ahead of him.

Clarke finally made his limited overs debut for Australia in Janaury 2003 against England in the VB Series, scoring an unbeaten 39. In fact, it was four innings and 208 runs before he was dismissed.

Hampshire will be hoping Clarke can follow in the bootsteps of countryman Simon Katich.

Katich was one of the few success stories of the 2003 season for the county.

He topped their first class averages with 1143 runs at 60.15 with four centuries and six fifties.

He was also the leading run-scorer in one-day cricket, bagging 810 runs in the National League and Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy with two hundreds and seven half-centuries.