Michael Clarke admits Australia have to improve quickly to compete with England

Captain Michael Clarke says Australia have "a lot of work to do" if they want to compete with England in this summer's Ashes series.

There were few surprises in the 16-man squad unveiled on Wednesday. Brad Haddin is named vice-captain in place of Shane Watson, and the only uncapped player is all-rounder James Faulkner.

Australia will arrive on the back of a 4-0 hammering in India, where England won last year. Clarke admits his team have to turn it around quickly but is confident they can pull of a shock and win back the urn.
"When you don't perform people criticise you. Every single player in this squad has a lot of hunger, we know how important the series is and we know we let ourselves and the Australian public down by the way we perform in India," said Clarke.

"We've got a lot of work to do. We have time to do that. Our goal playing for Australia every time going out on the field is win every game you play. This tour will be no different."

At the press conference to announce the squad, Clarke was asked - by an English journalist - if this was the weakest squad Australia have ever taken to England.

Clarke responded: "We will always pay our respects to the English team. They're a very strong team playing in their own backyard where they're even stronger - there's no doubt about that.

"But with this squad we have the talent, the experience and the youth to go over there and have success."