What wonderful news with which to start our post-long weekend recovery period! The papers have just informed us that Lara "Intellegent" Bingle and Michael "Pup" Clarke have gotten engaged while in New York for a romantic getaway!

Cricket star Michael Clarke and his model partner Lara Bingle are engaged to be married after the test player popped the big question while holidaying in the US.

Clarke, who turns 27 next week, asked Bingle to marry him in New York's Central Park - offering a five carat pear-shaped diamond ring, reportedly valued at $100,000.

$100,000? Expensive and impressive, sure, but not if you are Kylie Minogue's liver.

 

Still, we're pleased Michael Clarke has decided to make an honest woman of the young lass who has helped him become a better cricketer and, perhaps more importantly, takes a nice topless photo.

The couple's representative Chris White, from International Quarterback, reportedly confirmed the engagement, saying the couple called family and friends over the Easter break with the good news.

This announcement is a complete backflip from what the management company's Lisa Stallard said last month. "The story (that they were engaged) was absolutely inaccurate - they're not getting engaged, there is no engagement pending and there has not been any magazine deals done to announce it," she said.

Well, if there were no magazine deals sorted out in advance, an engagement was clearly out of the question.

Somewhere in Melbourne, Alex Fevola is breathing a sigh of relief... or possibly wiping up a puddle of urine.

Tags: au | engagements | lara bingle | michael clarke