Ashes 2013: Michael Clarke should bat at or above No 4 to maximise his abilities for Australia

Australia will face England in the fourth Test match of the first leg of the Ashes at Chester-le-Street, Durham, on Friday. While Michael Clarke’s men may find themselves 2-0 down and out of contention of regaining the urn, Jaideep Vaidya thinks the Australian skipper should promote himself up the order if they want to return to Australia with the series levelled.

Michael Clarke scored Australia’s first Ashes 2013 century in the third Test at Old Trafford © Getty Images

Australia will face England in the fourth Test match of the first leg of the Ashes at Chester-le-Street, Durham, on Friday. While Michael Clarke’s men may find themselves 2-0 down and out of contention of regaining the urn, Jaideep Vaidya thinks the Australian skipper should promote himself up the order if they want to return to Australia with the series levelled.

The Ashes may have been retained by England, but they have not been won. When you’re playing a back-to-back double header, only the team that is in possession of the tiny totemistic urn at the end of the Australian leg in February next year can truly be called the winners. England may have allowed themselves the pleasure and pride of keeping the little memento in their showcase till the Australian summer, but given the Baggy Greens’ performance in the third of 10 Tests in Manchester, it would seem that the path ahead isn’t going to be very smooth for Alastair Cook an Co.

Not many expected Australia to come out with anything in this series, especially the England leg. So, a 2-0 scoreline in favour of the hosts going into the fourth Test seems about right if considered academically. However, the real story is far from the apparent one. Apart from a rather shambolic performance at Lord’s where they were bowled out for a miserable 128 in the first innings, which was enough to meekly concede the  match, the inexperienced Australians have given the strong England line-up more than a thing or two to ponder over.

At Trent Bridge, the tourists fell short by a mere 14-run margin in a match that could have gone either way. Then, after a hiding at Lord’s, Australia picked themselves up, rejuvenated in the nine-day interval, and dominated majority of the play at Old Trafford until the infamous Manchester weather decided to play spoilsport and forced a draw. The desired result wasn’t achieved but the message sent out was loud and clear — We are not going down so easy!

The biggest positive for Australia coming out of Old Trafford was the performance of the batsmen. Australia crossed the 300-run mark only for the fourth time in 15 innings. They also recorded their first individual ton of the series in the form of skipper Michael Clarke, who led from the front. The previous highest individual score for Australia, prior to Clarke’s 187 at Manchester, was No 11 Ashton Agars’ dream debut knock of 98, which might have delighted the team as a whole but subjected the batsmen in the team to considerable embarrassment.

After a rather timid outing at Trent Bridge and Lord’s, Australia batted with a lot more intent at Old Trafford. What has perhaps helped them is the fact that Clarke, clearly the best batsman in the line-up by a mile, promoted himself up the order to No 4 and took control of things. To have a batsman of his calibre batting below No 4 is a sheer waste of his talent and abilities. As Michael Holding pointed out in a column for Wisden recently, “whether it is Viv Richards, Greg Chappell, Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar or Kevin Pietersen, the best batsmen always bat at No 3 or No 4.”

It’s okay to bat at five if you’re a VVS Laxman and you’ve got Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar above you. But this current Australian batting line-up is a far cry from India’s famed middle-order of the noughties and Clarke needs to bat up to maximise his abilities. It makes no sense for Clarke to bat at five, like he has for the majority of his career so far — and successfully at that — purely because he doesn’t have a Ricky Ponting and a Michael Hussey any longer to support him. In the current Australian team, which is in transition, he is the most experienced and efficient batsman — the lynchpin — and needs to come higher up in order to work around the other batsmen in the team and guide them through. At No 5, there is usually just the all-rounder, the wicketkeeper and the tail to bat with. As Holding said, “If your best batsman is out there in the middle with his back against the wall, fretting that his dismissal could mean the demise of the entire team’s batting performance, it’s going to be difficult for you to recover.”

Australia have slowly begun to get their combination right. With Shane Watson struggling with the bat, and the returning David Warner doing well when promoted to his preferred opening slot, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Watson is demoted to the middle-order, or dropped altogether. Watson hasn’t been himself ever since he broke down following the South Africa series last summer and perhaps needs to head back to the domestic circuit to get his game right.

Wasting a precious position in an Ashes line-up on a consistently under-performing player would do more harm than good. Coach Darren Lehmann and the team think tank may have to take a few tough decisions if Australia hope to fly back home with the series tied at 2-2. Getting a Phil Hughes in and giving Watson time to fully prepare himself for the Australian leg later this year would seem a prudent move.

Clarke mentioned after the weather played a pooper in Manchester that Australia are determined to level the series. While that may be easier said than done, the usually spunky skipper might want to consider tweaking his batting line-up appropriately to get the best out of the men at his disposal.

(Jaideep Vaidya is a correspondent at CricketCountry. A diehard Manchester United fan and sports buff, you can follow him on Twitter and Facebook)

About the Author

• 
•