Australia might have lost the opening test of the Ashes series but Michael Clarke is quite confident of a turnaround in the next test which is going to start on Thursday. He slammed the critics who wrote them off by saying that they will go down as 0-5 in this Ashes series. Keeping in mind the level of performance in the first test, he wants his lads to keep their heads high.
Australia lost the match by just 14 runs and credit for that goes to some brilliant bowling from James Anderson who single-handedly destroyed the whole lower middle-order .Clarke was quoted by Times of India saying, "I hope we get a bit of respect by the way we've played," Clarke said. "People who've written us off, I think we might have showed enough to change their minds. I think our boys should hold their heads high."
Brad Haddin and James Pattinson did well enough to knit a partnership of 65 runs for the 10th wicket but couldn’t continue to score another 15 runs. If this duo would have managed to clinch this nerve-wracking win then they would have surpassed Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mushtaq Ahmed who still hold the record with a 57-run partnership in Pakistan's victory over Australia in 1994.
A report in Hindustan Times quoted Clarke saying, "If I'd used my reviews better, I'd have had an opportunity to correct it when there was a howler. I don't think the test was decided on one DRS decision. There were plenty of times when we could have done things better. We'll learn from that."
The kind of excitement and drama that was going on in the last hour or so of this Test did remind almost every one of the second Ashes test at Edgbaston in 2005. Last time it was Bret lee and Michael Kasprowicz who put up 59 runs partnership but fell three runs short to win the Test. It was Harmison who managed to get the Kasprowicz out and handed over a thrilling win to his side. The only common feature between these two tests was the Aussie skipper himself but he feels that it gets quite hard to digest such loses, especially when you are leading the side.
According to the recent reports published in Deccan Chronicle, Clarke was quoted saying, "I can't remember Edgbaston well. Well, I can, but I just don't want to. I was a youngster then but it probably does hurt you more when you're captain and you care so much about the guys around you. I guess part of my job now is to make sure the boys are up and ready for what's happening in four days' time."
England take a 1-0 into the second test at Lord's, which starts on Thursday.
