“Michael Clarke should bat at number three,” says Australian legend Ian Chappell. He believes that time has come when Clarke should bat up the order and try to counter the situation rather than allowing the middle-order to come under pressure and panic.
He was quoted by Sydney Morning Herald saying, "Michael Clarke, to me, should be batting at three but he won't, which I think is crazy. I don't understand why Michael Clarke doesn't go there."
Though Chappell made it clear that Clarke is not an ideal choice for that position but he should look at the need of the hour otherwise retaining Ashes would be a distant dream for his team. Apart from that, he wants to see dashing opening pair of Shane Watson and David Warner who can contribute a lot to this fragile looking batting line-up
Chappell was quoted by DNA saying, "Long term you've got to have a decent number three but when you haven't got one who's a prototype, then your best player's got to play there and that's Clarke. They also need Warner in the side but they don't need him batting at six. His talents will be diluted if he bats down the order. He should be opening with Shane Watson but I fear he won't be."
Chappell don’t want this side to go down without giving Englishmen run for their money and with nothing more to lose after losing the first two tests, he wants them to come hard in the third Test starting Thursday at Manchester.
Aussie was quoted by Indian Express saying, "If they're going to go down, they go down fighting and the opposition should know they've been in a bloody fight and had to play their absolute to beat you. The public were devastated by what happened at Lord's because of the way they crumbled and went down easily.”
