Clarke says 1st Test win just the start

Written by: on 4th September 2011
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It was an emphatic win but Australia captain Michael Clarke says his team’s job is far from complete despite the 125-run win over Sri Lanka in Galle on Saturday.

While delighted to claim his first win as Test skipper, Clarke is aiming for the series and will accept no slacking from his charges in the build-up to the start of the second Test in Kandy on Thursday.

“No doubt we have to turn up for the next Test and be at our best again,” Clarke said.

“We know it’s going to be tough to play here but we didn’t come here to win one Test match, we’ve come to win three Test matches.

“So we’ve got a lot of work to do still.”

Straight after the win it was revealed Clarke’s predecessor as captain Ricky Ponting will head home to Australia to be with his wife Rianna for the arrival of their second child.

That means West Australian Shaun Marsh is all but certain to make his Test debut in Kandy, but Clarke said there was never any guarantee he would have stuck with the same XI even if Ponting had stayed on.

“I’m sure Kandy’s going to be a different surface now with the way this game turned out and we’ll reassess in Kandy,” he said.

“I think that’s important for us as a selection group, that we do pick what we feel is the best eleven for the conditions for that given game.

“It’s very easy while you’re winning to stick with the same team but, as I said to all the boys in that changing room, what’s going to help us have success over a long period of time is a good group, a strong squad and that’s not just the 15 players here.

“That’s all the contracted players being on the one page, going in the same direction and the team could change in Kandy, we’ll wait and see what conditions we get.”

Young NSW star David Warner has been named as an emergency player to provide cover in Ponting’s absence and will join up with the team in a few days.

Australia will enjoy a day off in Galle on Sunday before flying to Kandy on Monday for two days of practice at the Pallekele International Stadium before the second Test begins on Thursday.

The third and final Test, which Ponting hopes to play should all go to plan back home, begins in Colombo on September 16,

© 2011 AAP


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