Want to win 4-0: Clarke
First Published : 15 Jan 2012, 20:53
Last Modified : 15 Jan 2012, 15:23
Perth, Jan 15: Australia captain Michael Clarke was delighted to win the prestigious Border-Gavaskar Trophy 3-0 at the WACA with one Test still remaining in the series. The skipper spoke about his team’s progress since he took over the captaincy in the post-match media-interaction.
Excerpts:
On winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy
It is a wonderful feeling. What a great performance firstly from David Warner. Ed Cowan deserves a lot of credit as well for the way he stuck it out again in pretty tough batting conditions; their partnership is as good as I have seen in a long time. Our bowlers continue to execute their skills well. I am stoked. We continue to see a very good team performance which is very important to me.
On the difference in the team since their loss at Hobart
A lot of hard work, I guess. I don’t want to take any credit away from our fast bowlers; they [have been] doing a good job for such a long period of time. Hobart was a tough wicket for our batters. The work that we have been putting in from the start of this series as a batting group, we are seeing its results […] There have been times when the wickets have been tough [but] as a batting group we have found a way to make 300 [runs] in a majority of our innings.
On the wickets being good for the game by and large and on what he meant by tough pitches
Yes, they have. There’s certainly enough there for the bowlers as we have seen here. We had an amazing partnership with David Warner and Ed Cowan but then the rest of us managed to find the edge. I guess that’s a wicket that has enough for the bowlers [and] makes the batters work hard but once you get in, it’s beautiful to bat on. I think Sydney was like that as well; quite tough to bat on Day 1, but [once] you got through that, it was pretty flat. In Melbourne again there was enough there for the bowlers. So in general in Australia these days we are seeing a little bit more in the wicket for the bowlers so we have to do a lot more work as batting unit, but I think we are getting there.
On whether the change in the Australian management, support staff and even in the team has something to do with things going as well as they have
I don’t want to take anything away from the selectors in the past; they did absolutely everything possible. Lot of criticism was put on them. I think what we have done as a playing group and support staff is to focus on the field, to make sure individually we are performing and as a team we are trying to get better. No doubt Mickey Arthur, the new coach, the new selectors [...] have brought a lot of fresh enthusiasm into the group which has been exciting. But when I look back to when I took the captaincy, I think the team has grown from the start of that. Ricky [Ponting] has been around the group. His experience and knowledge has played a big part in our success and he has helped me. […] We are slowly taking steps in the right direction.
On the things he personally feels are top priority in Australian cricket
All I want to say is we continue to want to have success, be No. 1 in all three forms of the game and that’s our goal as a team. [...] Every single person in that room knows there is a lot of work to do to go back to where they want to go in this great game. We are excited now and [look forward to] enjoying tonight then Adelaide. We want to win this series 4-0.
On the way different players stood up for the team
[The bowlers] get a lot of credit for the whole series to get such a good batting line-up out. The wickets have helped the bowlers [with] enough pace and bounce but India has such a good batting line-up with some amazing players. To be able to take 20 wickets, I think they deserve a lot of credit.
On David Warner
He is an amazing talent. He can hit the ball over the park and I love his enthusiasm and the way he continues to play his game whether T20s, one-day or Test cricket. He is a great asset for Australian cricket [and has a] bright future.
On the way forward
The opening partnership was outstanding in this game. We put over 200 runs [on the board] and then we lost the rest of us for around 150-odd, so our batting needs to continue to work hard. [...] It’s good to see catches as well; our fielding is improving.
