Clarke still hopeful after the first day drubbing in the 4th Ashes match

Micheal Clarke reacts after losing the toss ahead of the 4th Ashes Test match.

Australians have been pushed against the wall. They can literally smell the defeat, but it’s difficult to admit as such. Michael Clarke still has his hopes high, according to an article published in IBNLive.

On the first day of the 4th Ashes Test, Australian team suffered the ignominy of getting bowled out for a paltry score of 60. This was also the first instance in the history of Test cricket when the first 5 wickets of the match fell in less than 25 balls. Statisticians must be having a field day.

These two tweets sum up the Aussie misery perfectly.

Things have not been going well with the Captain. His own performance being in the spotlight, for the wrong reasons obviously. His last seven innings have yielded a score of 104 only. Calls for his retirement have been going around, but Clarke has stood his ground defying the critics. But yesterday’s performance did no good to his stand. Had he been successful in stabilising the Australian batting after the initial hiccup, he could have regained the respect and reverence of at least the fans.

Luck has also not been in favour of Clarke. He lost the crucial toss in the morning, which was overcast and ideal for swing bowling. English bowlers exploited the conditions to the hilt.

“It didn't start well, losing the toss and getting sent in but you still have to execute and Stuart Broad was a class above today ”, continued Clarke. As reported by the BBC.

Clarke admitted that the conditions for batting were not good, but gave full credit to Stuart Broad, who was the main architect of Australia’s early morning demolition.

“He (Broad) put everything in the right area, we nicked everything and England's fielding was exceptional. Those conditions we faced today were as tough as we faced in a long time so to lose the toss was vital”, Clark said.

England’s batting did not start with an aplomb either as they lost their two batsmen Adam Lyth and Ian Bell quickly before Captain Alastair Cook (43) stabilised the ship a bit. Further Joe Root (174 not out ) and Jonny Bairstow (74) piled up a stiff lead with their fourth-wicket partnership.

Clarke remarked that the pitch flattened out a bit late, but that will not ease the pain of the shocking performance. He needs to lead from the front to push his team to come with up something that can turn the winds in their favour.

Some say theA ustralian batsmen have been ruined by T20, but since when is 60 all out in 18 overs an acceptable T20 performance?

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) August 6, 2015

04W24W0W04100000W40000110W020000401000W000000000101000011W0011200010040040000W1W30000000000000400000000000001004W: Aus innings in one tweet.

— Ramesh Srivats (@rameshsrivats) August 6, 2015