Australia captain Michael Clarke called for an improved performance by his attack and was even harder on himself after an eight-wicket defeat by England in the third Test at Edgbaston left his side 2-1 down in the five-match Ashes series.
A remarkable match ended inside three days as England pacemen James Anderson and Steven Finn took six wickets each in below par Australia scores of 136 and 265 respectively on a seaming but far from unplayable pitch in Birmingham on Friday.
As a result, Australia’s bowlers didn’t have anything like sufficient runs to play with, particularly when England were chasing a modest target of 121 for victory.
That England needed a three-figure score to win was in large part down to the fact that Australia’s last three wickets added 97 runs between them on Friday. This was a rebuke to Australia’s specialist batsmen, with opener David Warner (77) the only member of the top six to make a double-figure score in the innings.
Nevertheless, it was true that Australia’s attack lacked England’s accuracy, after their extra speed proved a trump card in the second Test at lord’s where the tourists won by 405 runs on a placid pitch to square the series at 1-1. ‘We had perfect bowling conditions. Overcast, a little bit of rain around and we just couldn’t hit the areas consistently,’ Clarke said.
‘The ball swung and seamed for the whole game. We had to be better than what we were,’ he added ahead of next week’s fourth Test across the Midlands at Trent Bridge.
Mitchell Johnson, in the course of becoming just the fifth Australian to take 300 Test wickets, started Thursday’s second day in sensational fashion with a couple of sharply rising deliveries that had both Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes caught behind off the glove.
And fellow left-arm quick Mitchell Starc gave Australia a glimmer of hope on Friday when he bowled England captain and opening batsman Alastair Cook with a full and swinging ball for seven. These though were rare highlights, and while Australia’s occasional waywardness at lord’s was masked by the fact that they had already put a commanding 566 first-innings runs on the scoreboard it was a different story at Edgbaston.
Meanwhile the 34-year-old Clarke, one of the leading batsmen of his generation, didn’t spare himself from critical analysis after scores of 10 and three at Edgbaston left him with a meagre series aggregate of 94 runs in six innings at an average of under 19.
‘I think it’s always going to be hard to beat any opposition when they’ve got 11 and we’ve only 10,’ Clarke said. ‘It is time for the captain to get off the plane and turn up. With my performances so far, I certainly haven’t led from the front as I’d like to do as captain.’
lehmann ready to be patient
Australia coach Darren lehmann has said Clarke will get as ‘long as he needs’ to come out of his batting slump. Clarke, who for much of his career had enjoyed a Test average of over 50 — the mark of an all-time great — is averaging a mere 18.80 this Ashes. Indeed his average slipped to below 50 after this Test for the first time in three years.
And having been plagued by a longstanding back complaint, as well as more recent hamstring trouble, there has been speculation this could be the 34-year-old’s last tour.
But lehmann believes the class that has seen Clarke score 28 Test hundreds has not deserted his skipper. ‘He’ll get as long as he needs, he’s captain,’ lehmann said after Friday’s quickfire defeat. ‘We’re not going to panic, that’s for sure,’ the former Australia batsman added. ‘But he’s got to play well.’
Meanwhile lehmann said leaving out Brad Haddin from the team that played at Edgbaston was the hardest decision of his career, amid accusations it made a mockery of Australia’s ‘family first’ policy.
Wicket-keeper Haddin was overlooked in favour of the younger Peter Nevill after the 37-year-old pulled out of the second Test at lord’s to be with his sick daughter Mia.
‘The cold hard facts are he’s played the last 12 Test matches and made 250 runs at 15, with 16 bowled out of 21,’ lehmann said. ‘I know there’s been a big hoo-ha about ‘family first’ — well, we still have that. There’s been a very unbalanced view from a lot of people about it.
‘We certainly care about Brad and his family,’ he added. ‘We all love Hadds, the players love Hadds.