WATTO’S CAREER SET TO FINISH?
MICHAEL Clarke says Australia must draw inspiration from the way they turned the tables on New Zealand in the World Cup, as they attempt to resurrect their Ashes campaign on Thursday at Lord’s.
Having been completely outplayed in every facet by a hungry and energetic England in the first Test in Cardiff, Australia now have just four days to bounce back and save another Ashes tour from slipping away as it has on every trip for the past 14 years.
Australia received a wake- up call just three matches into the World Cup this year when they were rolled for 151 runs by New Zealand at Eden Park. But Australia didn’t falter again and on World Cup Final day when it mattered most, they romped to victory over the Black Caps.
If Australia are to take heart from that parallel, it’s interesting to note that Shane Watson and an injured fast bowler were dropped for the next match.
The same kind of shake- up could happen here with Watson fighting to save his Test career after another underwhelming effort and Mitchell Starc ( ankle) racing the clock to prove his fitness.
Clarke says the short- turnaround will help the rattled Australians respond to their wake- up call as they did after their belting at Eden Park.
“This is a completely different team, but I think any time you get outplayed it makes you see and understand where you have to get to beat your opposition,” he said.
“We certainly haven’t taken England lightly and we knew they were going to come out and be tough to beat in these conditions and now we’ve just had a real taste of that.
“The advantage and the positive for us is we’re only four days away from the second Test. I think that’s a good thing for this team.
“All the boys now, like losing to New Zealand in the World Cup gave us a bit of a kick up the backside, they’ll probably see this game very similar.”
Clarke admits had Joe Root’s edge through to Brad Haddin gone to hand when England were in major trouble at 3- 43 on day one, the course of the match could have changed.
But he said there could be no blame levelled at Haddin. Australia had the rest of the game to make up for the mistake and failed. He said in fielding, bowling and batting – Australia failed on every count.