Clarke switches focus from Ashes pain

A new Test summer starts on Thursday but for the Australians it is impossible to stop thinking about what is coming up next year. Like the long car journey before the holiday, the destination is what Ricky Ponting's players are thinking of as they wait to attempt revenge on England.

While Australia have won two one-day series and lifted the Champions Trophy since the Ashes ended in a flood of bunting in August, it is the second loss of the urn at The Oval that will drive them during home affairs against West Indies and Pakistan. Michael Clarke, the vice-captain, was part of both defeats in England and said the most recent one was still painful.

"Until they get out here and we beat them," he said. "Of course it does [hurt]. It's important we focus solely on what's in front of us, personally and as a team. It's important you do make sure you're 100% prepared to play against whatever opposition it is. We've got about 10 Tests before England are back out here, but it's important we're playing our best cricket now against a team that has a lot of very good individuals, and we are playing well leading up to the Ashes in 12 months."

Four years ago Australia ran into West Indies after defeat in England, sweeping them aside with a 3-0 result and soon starting a record-equalling 16-match winning streak. Ponting's side has changed significantly since then and if they go through this summer undefeated in the six Tests it will be a worthy triumph.

West Indies, a side reconvening after a damaging strike, mix some outstanding players with a batch of relative unknowns. "[Chris] Gayle, [Dwayne] Bravo, [Ramnaresh] Sarwan, [Shivnarine] Chanderpaul, they've got a lot of good individuals," Clarke said. "Taylor is a very good bowler. I've faced him a fair bit, last time in the West Indies and I've played a few one-dayers against him. Young [Kemar] Roach looks like he bowls real good pace as well."

As the Queenslanders found out in last week's tour game, Roach is not someone who should be hooked early. "I'll be ducking, I think," Clarke said. "If I've got time to duck."

The last time West Indies toured Clarke didn't finish the series after being dropped in Hobart and told by the selectors to tone down his dashing strokeplay. It's highly unlikely Clarke would hook or pull before he is 20 - or even 50 - under his current method, unlike in those wonderful days in his first year when he was a fearless shot-maker. Chats with Trevor Hohns, the former chairman of selectors, were often life-changing.

His hundreds in Bangalore and at the Gabba were amazing, but young boys learn they have to curb instinct to survive in an adult world. Clarke now averages 49.35 after 52 Tests, is Australia's deputy, and if his back holds up will be captaining his country when Ricky Ponting retires. The degenerative problem that forced him out for two months has held up through three games in a week and he is confident it can be managed through the rest of his career.

Clarke had that problem the last time West Indies were here, but everything else seems to have altered. "Four years is a long time," Clarke said. "A lot of things have changed, my game has improved, shot selection has improved, I've learned how I play best more, worked out more, grown up and matured from a 24-year-old to a 28-year-old. That's life, not cricket."

Consistency keeps players in the Test side and Clarke has become Australia's most reliable, scoring a sensible century or half-century in four of the five 2009 Ashes Tests. Until the tour of South Africa this year, the last time he had played in a Test series and not scored a century was in Bangladesh in April 2006. It means the days like the one where he skipped to 141 against New Zealand, bringing his hundred up with a pull for four and then heading straight to lunch, are a pleasant memory.

"That's the thing, if I play like that, that's probably why I got dropped," he said. "You have your day in the sun sometimes then miss out five times."