Tough Caribbean conditions led to poor performances: http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MJ-Clarke-c1978 – Cricket News Update
Australian skipper, Michael Clarke, who had been recovering from a hamstring injury, has put the team’s average performances in the ODIs down to difficult and unfamiliar conditions.
“I would like to have won every game but conditions have been tough,” he said.
The 30-year-old suffered a hamstring complaint in the latter stages of the Commonwealth Bank series last month, and was forced to sit out the limited-overs leg of the Windies tour, with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SR-Watson-c2558 stepping in for him. However,
with a warm-up match scheduled for April 2, due to be followed by a 3-match Tests series which commences April 7, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120 has flown out to join his team and familiarize himself with the conditions.
The major point of concern for the Aussie team prior to the ODI series was the notoriously slow Caribbean pitches, in addition to the grueling weather conditions. Both factors proved to be quite a challenge for the tourists – after
winning the first ODI of the 5-match series, they crumbled under the combined strain of conditions, and the opposing team’s onslaught, suffering losses in the second and fourth ODIs.
“It's a lot different from what we've been facing in Australia,” Clarke observed. “It's been a great experience for guys who haven't been to the West Indies before.”
The visitor’s side features a number of players who are inexperienced and unfamiliar with conditions in the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Daniel-Christian-c1308, and spinners Nathan
Lyon, and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/XJ-Doherty-c2804. However, Clarke is convinced that the team will have settled in and acclimatized themselves before the beginning of the Test leg of the tour.
“We've got plenty of time plus we've got a three-day tour game before the first Test and we will be 100 percent ready to go for that first Test match,” he claimed.
Clarke, who has been keeping a close eye on his team’s performances throughout the ODI series, is convinced that the spinners can prove to be http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746’s biggest assets, and is keen on exploiting the spin that the Caribbean pitches
have to offer. The skipper went on to add that playing two spinners – http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Nathan-Michael-Lyon-c78822 – was also an option he was considering.
“If conditions are like what we've seen in the one-dayers, then it's something we definitely need to consider (playing two spinners),” he said.
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