JOIN USVisibly upset following their innings and 135-run loss to India in the second Test well under four days, Michael Clarke termed his team’s performance ‘unacceptable’ and said the Australian team has let its fans down with meek display. Excerpts.
What do you think of team’s performance?
I think you know very well what I thought. It’s probably more polite of me by not putting it into words. It’s obviously unacceptable and very disappointing. I certainly don’t want to take any credit away from India, I thought they played very well yesterday, they showed us once again how to bat in these conditions.
They showed us once you get in how to go on and cash in and make a big score. Our batting has been unacceptable in the first two Test matches. I’m more concerned about our first innings performances than our second innings. Probably, there’s the need for me to bat a b it up the order.
How do you pick up yourself from now?
Lots of hard work. I know you don’t get better as a player by sitting on the couch and doing nothing. We’re fortunate in regards to having eight or nine days before the third Test.
Is this your toughest day as skipper?
Who knows. They’re always tough when you lose. They’re even tougher when you perform like that. I don’t want to compare it to any other day. At the end of the day our performances in these two Test matches have been unacceptable. There are plenty of people that not only watch us on TV but fly around to back us and we know we’ve let them down.
Do you think it’s lack of skill or more of a mental thing?
Skill certainly plays a part but the only way you get better is by working at it. It’s okay to go to training and say I practised today but if you don’t go there with a plan, with a goal of trying to improve it’s a waste of time. It’s about everything we do trying to become a better team and better individual players. I think in the first two Test matches we’ve let each other down.