Clarke shoulders the blame

Man of the match Michael Clarke hit 98 but took the blame for Australia's defeat

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Stand-in captain Michael Clarke was happy to shoulder the blame for Australia’s fifth consecutive defeat after New Zealand claimed a six-wicket win in the second one-day international at the MCG.

Clarke was named man of the match for his 98 off 133 balls as Australia posted 225 but, after the Black Caps chased down their target with more than an over to spare, the 27-year-old conceded he should have scored quicker.

“Same result as we’re used to of late unfortunately,” Clarke, who shared a 133-run stand with Mike Hussey (75), said in the post-match presentation. “We’re so close, we just can’t get over the line.

“I think we were 20 or 30 short with the bat and I think myself and Huss will probably take responsibility for that.

“I think I could have scored a little quicker towards the end of my innings but we tried our best in the field and things just didn’t seem to go our way.

“We thought the wicket was pretty slow and their spinners bowled well so we tried to adapt and hang in there until the last 15 overs but we probably didn’t score enough at the end.

“I certainly take a big responsibility. I think I could have score a little bit quicker.”

Grant Elliott saw New Zealand home with an unbeaten 61, a performance Clarke thought was worthy of the man-of-the-match accolade.

He said: “I think Grant Elliot will be a little disappointed, I thought he was fantastic. He probably deserved it a little bit more than me.”

Australia have lost back-to-back matches against New Zealand to fall 2-0 down in the five-match series, as well as the previous three games in the series defeat by South Africa. And they have never lost six one-day internationals in a row.

But Clarke insists Australia are close to arresting their slide and drew positives from his side’s performance.

“Our disciplines are much better with bat and ball,” he said. “It was good for Huss to spend that time in the middle and set the innings up. I think our bowlers did a good job. We’re just getting there.”

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori added: “It was a great win, once again set up by the way we bowled and fielded. Kyle Mills in these last two games has just been outstanding and I think everyone’s followed his lead.

“We’ve had good plans for a long time but this is the first time we’ve stood up and executed them.

“We’ve had two wickets that have suited our style of bowling and because of that we’ve bowled exceptionally well.”