Australia captain Michael Clarke came to the defence of his embattled selectors on Tuesday, saying they weren’t picking a side for a “charity tour” as the tourists looked to salvage a consolation win in the final match of their disappointing Ashes series in England.
Clarke’s men head into the final Test at The Oval starting on Wednesday 3-0 down in the five-match series and having failed to win any of their last eight Tests.
No Australia side have yet lost four Ashes Tests in England and none have lost the urn anywhere 4-0.
So far this Ashes, top-order batting has been Australia’s greatest weakness with eight batsmen being tried in the first six spots of a team trying to fill the void left by the retirements of Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey.
Not since the first two Tests of the tour of India earlier this year have Australia used the same top six in the same order in consecutive Tests.
Recently, former captain Steve Waugh, who didn’t score a hundred until his 26th Test before becoming one of the leading batsmen of his era, urged the selectors to adopt a ‘pick and stick’ approach.