Image courtesy of: The Guardian
Clarke has even started questioning his own captaincy abilities
Australia captain Michael Clarke has lashed out at all the batsmen in the squad after they yet again failed to put up an impressive performance during the second Ashes Test, which cost Australia the match by an embarrassing 347 runs and handed England a 2-0 lead heading into the third Test at Old Trafford, Manchester.
Australia’s loss in the second Test at Lord’s increased their losing streak to six consecutive games, which the country last experienced all the way back in 1984.
Clarke admitted that the failures of the team over the past number of series has severely dented his confidence and added that he was beginning to have doubts over whether he should continue staying in charge.
“Every team I’ve been a part of that’s lost – it’s obviously been extremely tough and you probably take it more personally when you’re captain of the team as well,” Clarke said. “Our performance with the bat in the first innings was unacceptable. The wicket was very good for batting, we had a great opportunity and we let ourselves down.
“The reason you play any sport is to try and win – that’s the way I have been brought up. But half of my problem I guess is that I walked into such a great Australian team that won as a habit and that was something I became accustomed to and used to. I don’t want that to change. At the moment we are not performing as well as I would like. We are letting everyone down at the moment with the way we are batting. Our bowlers are fighting hard, we are making them bowl every single day because we are not putting enough runs on the board.”
Clarke noted that the standards of the Australian batsmen have fallen to record lows as of late and they also look to be extremely impatient when arriving at the crease, which leads to them having a poor “shot selection”.
In the last seven Tests Australia have played, only two batsmen have recorded centuries, the first being wicketkeeper Matthew Wade against Sri Lanka in Sydney and the second being Clarke himself against India in Chennai.
“We’ve got plenty of experience in our top seven, we’ve seen already in this series that guys can score runs against this attack,” Clarke said. “Our shot selection was poor and we just didn’t have the discipline that England had. England were willing to bat for long periods and graft through the tough times – and we certainly weren’t in that first innings.
“I don’t want anybody in our team to not play their natural game and not back their natural instinct. You have to do that 100 per cent. But like it or not, when you’re playing against good opposition there are going to be tough times in your innings as a batsman and you’ve got to find a way to get through that. In my career, the way I’ve tried to get through those periods is with my defence.”
With cricket pundits and former players immersed in debate about the primary reason behind Australia’s failures with the bat, Clarke believes it all comes down to the huge number of Twenty20 games played each year, whether they be at the international level or domestic tournaments like the Indian Premier League (IPL).
“I think you learn that defence at the age of 10,” Clarke said. “Obviously there are three different formats we now play and there’s times through your career in T20 cricket, or one-day cricket where you make a 50 off 25 balls or a hundred off 50 balls, that’s a great innings. But I know in Test cricket, some of the best innings I’ve ever seen in my career are guys making a hundred off 350 balls. So there’s a time and a place.
“I love all three forms. My reason to retire from T20 was to focus on ODI and Test cricket. I felt my game had to improve in certain areas to stay in the team. I try to use the time that I’m not playing T20 to improve my game. Everyone is in a different boat and different age and stage of life. I can’t make decisions for other people. There is room for all three formats in the game but you must be a very good player to perform at all three formats.”