Michael Clarke: Will shocking Fourth Ashes Test display spell the end for the Australia captain?

Skipper managed just 10 runs as tourists were bowled out for 60 by England at Trent Bridge

Stuart Broad of England celebrates taking his fifth wicket, that of Michael Clarke (GETTY IMAGES)

Is this the end for Michael Clarke? Things are not looking fantastic for the Australian captain after another failure with the bat, as part of his side’s diabolical capitulation for 60, continued his poor run of form.

Clarke is currently averaging 17.33 in this series, a number that if anything is boosted by his 32 not out at Lord’s, and with his side seemingly on the verge of losing the Ashes, speculation continues to mount about his cricketing future.

LIVE: Ashes 2015 - Fourth Test, Day One

The Australian captain was the first to admit that things were not going well for him, after his side’s eight-wicket thrashing in the last match at Edgbaston.

"We've been playing with 10 players and the captain's got to come off the plane and contribute," said Clarke.

It was during that match that Clarke’s batting average, which has been above 50 for the majority of his career, dropped to 49.73.

Perhaps as a result of his failures in this series, Clarke dropped to number five in the batting order for Trent Bridge, hoping that his career average of 61.83 in that position would help him out.

As it was, he came in the third over, his side reduced to 21/4 and while he made the second highest score of any Australian batsman, his 10 runs were hardly anything to write home about.

Australian captain Michael Clarke watches his team from the dressing room (GETTY IMAGES)

Clarke’s highest score in his last 11 Ashes innings in England is 38, and he has just four hundreds in his last 34 Test innings, although in the 30 innings where he did not score a century, his highest score is 47.

In short, since Clarke’s 187 at Manchester in the Ashes two years ago, he has endured a miserable and seemingly unarrestable slump, and having become, over the course of this series, the Australian captain to lose the most Ashes Tests, his days in the baggy green could well be numbered.