http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 against focusing solely on the Ashes – Cricket News Update
With an upcoming limited-overs series against England due to kick off on June 21, Australian skipper Michael http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120 has advised his young team to focus on the present, instead of getting carried away with the thought of the Ashes 2013.
“It's important for us as a group to not get too carried away with the Ashes,” he insisted. “The reality is, if we don't perform as a team now, you don't even worry about the Ashes because you're not on that trip.”
The Aussies’ Ashes 2010/2011 defeat on home soil has been among the team’s more noticeable defeats of late, having cost them their place at the top of the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625’s Test team rankings. The team’s determination to regain the Ashes and their number one spot has
acted as a driving force behind their recent performances, which have seen them earning victories such as a 4-0 win against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760, in order to inch their way
up the rankings to the 3rd spot, below http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 (1).
The tour has been touted as a chance for the Aussie team to begin their preparation for the 2013 Ashes, but for Clarke, the tour is meant to serve no such purpose.
A relatively young Australian side will be facing off against England in the upcoming series, with veterans such as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MEK-Hussey-c1942 absent from their ranks, and Clarke expects the tour to serve the purpose of increasing the experience of
batsmen like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Iftikhar-Ali-Khan-Pataudi-Nawab-of-c64075 Cummins.
“Yes, it is the pinnacle as a Test cricketer. It's in the back of your mind, but we've got a lot of cricket in front of us where we're going to have to perform individually and as a team, before we even worry about the Ashes,” he pointed out.
The Ashes are scheduled to begin in June next year, before which the Aussies have plenty of series lined-up. The upcoming tour of England consists of an only ODI against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ireland-c751 on June 23, and a 5-match ODI series against the Poms, which will be followed
by the ICC T20 World Cup, scheduled to take place in September this year.
Tags: