Ashes 2015: Australia say Michael Clarke's lean streak is down to 'form rather than fitness concerns'

Clarke has two centuries in his last 26 Test innings, which is not the first trough he has had to negotiate

Michael Clarke has made only two centuries in his last 26 Test innings for Australia (Reuters)

Apart from the fitness of opening batsman Chris Rogers, the other unresolved issue niggling away at the buoyancy of Australia’s mood going into the third Test at Edgbaston is the long, lean streak in the batting form of their captain, Michael Clarke.

Clarke, 34 years old and dogged during the last year by a serious recurrence of his long-standing back injury, as well as undergoing surgery to repair a torn hamstring, has often looked laboured at the crease recently, yet the Australian management say his lack of runs could not be blamed on physical issues.

After Clarke’s mixed returns in the tour match at Derby, when he was dismissed for 16 by the 19-year-old debutant Will Davis in the first innings and made an unbeaten 44 in the second only after being dropped on 19 off the same rookie quick, Australian batting coach Michael Di Venuto said injuries were no longer an impediment.

“He seems unrestricted and he hasn’t had a problem since coming back, so I don’t think that’s any reason why he hasn’t been able to get a big score of late,” Di Venuto said.

“I thought he looked pretty good in the World Cup final for his 70-odd. And he looked pretty good when he couldn’t move and he scored a hundred when his back was no good against India.”

Clarke has two centuries in his last 26 Test innings, which is not the first trough he has had to negotiate.

Delve deeper into his current slump, however, and the numbers are more worrying. Clarke made three hundreds against England in 2013, but since the last of those there have been 17 innings in which he has been dismissed for 24 runs or fewer. Moreover, the 128 to which Di Venuto referred against India in December last year, his most recent hundred, was almost an act of sheer emotional willpower, coming in the first Test that followed the death of Phillip Hughes.

With a captain-in-waiting alongside him in Steve Smith, Clarke is under increasing pressure to show form that justifies his place, yet nothing in Di Venuto’s comments betrayed particular concern in the Australian camp.

“As batsmen, you go through little patches where things don’t quite click,” Di Venuto said. “But I’m sure a big score is not too far away. He’s meticulous in his preparation, he’s playing well in the nets. He just needs a bit of luck.”

Clarke was off the field for a time during Derbyshire’s innings, at which point David Warner took charge rather than Shane Watson or Brad Haddin, both former vice-captains, an indication perhaps that Warner is seen as a potential deputy when Smith inherits the armband.

“He put a few of us in our place, which is always nice,” joked Mitchell Marsh of Warner’s stint. Marsh, preferred to Watson at Lord’s, cemented his place by taking 4 for 41 in Derbyshire’s innings before reporting his team to be “in a really positive mood” after their crushing win in the second Test and ready, with the series at 1-1, to do more damage to English hopes at Edgbaston.

Rogers, who faced some throw-downs and did some light jogging at Derby after rejoining his team-mates on Saturday, was due to have an indoor net at Edgbaston following the disturbance to his inner-ear balance mechanism that followed his blow on the head at Lord’s.