Michael Clarke wants Aussies to learn from opponents after Ashes mauling
After one of the worst defeats in Australian cricket, the beleaguered captain of the team Michael Clarke conceded that his team was appalling in the five match contest and has to learn from the rampaging English team that mauled them thrice
by an innings margin in the series.
He added that the opponents were notches ahead of the hosts and had done their homework brilliantly as they overhauled the team that had thrashed them 5-0 in the last Ashes series to be played in Australia four years ago.
"I think 100% we have to learn from what England did this series," http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120 said. "Their performance, not only with bat and ball, but in the field, was outstanding for a five-Test series. There's a great starting point to be able to turn
up every day for five Tests, to perform as well as they did."
The right hander who had a wretched series himself was categoric in stating that the Aussies now know what they need to do if they are to compete with some of the best teams in the world, especially with their depleted resources which
was one of the main reasons for their abject surrender in the battle for the little urn. "It takes a lot of discipline, a lot of planning before the series," he said. "The [England] bowlers have executed their plans outstandingly against our batters and their
batters have cashed in when we haven't bowled in the right areas. We do need to look at how England have played in this series and take a lot of notes from that."
Clarke who took over the reins from the injured Ricky Ponting for the last match of the series was in miserable touch scoring a paltry 193 runs at an average of 21.44 in the series, 80 of those runs came in one innings which was the second
dig, during a fighting battle in the Adelaide test defeat.
After the end of the Sydney match, which was another crushing loss, Clarke claimed that the series is the lowest point in what had been before now, a fairly successful career at the highest level of the game "Unfortunately I've lost a
few Ashes series now and they're all pretty bad," he said. "But being the vice-captain of the Australian team, and having such a disappointing series with the bat, it probably is [the worst]."
As is the case with most struggling teams, the Aussies went from bad to worse as the contest progressed and were all over the place despite the high of the Perth test win, the third match of the series.
He also added that the overall team performance was extremely dejecting for him and the team through out. Another nail in the coffin was the awful standard of basics like fielding, running between the wickets and the bowler's line and
length.
He felt that the bowlers who conceded totals in the excess of 500 runs through out the contest were not to be blamed for their failure as they were not experienced and had a gigantic task of keeping a tight leash on a highly determined
and professional batting outfit, the English team has recently developed into.
The next test match assignment for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 in August this year, it is not yet known if Ricky Ponting would be leading the team against the Islanders. If Punter pulls out, Clarke would be the best man to lead
the team considering his vast experience as Ponting’s deputy.
It remains to be seen as to what the future holds for Ponting and Clarke, for the time being they are l*****g their wounds inflicted by a vastly superior enemy.
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