NOTTINGHAM — Australia captain Michael Clarke and England counterpart Alastair Cook have played more than 200 Tests between them but both are perplexed by the to-and-fro nature of this season's Ashes series. England won the first Test in Cardiff by 169 runs only for Australia to bounce back with a mammoth 405-run victory in the second Test at Lord's. Then England responded with an eight-wicket win inside three days in the third Test at Birmingham's Edgbaston ground last week. As a result, England take a 2-1 lead into the fourth Test of a five-match series at Nottingham's Trent Bridge ground starting Thursday. “I can't explain that — it's a rollercoaster ride,” Clarke told reporters Wednesday. “We played some not so great cricket at Cardiff and Edgbaston and then, at Lord's, we were outstanding. “We have seen that from both teams. I don't know the reason.” Cook perhaps got closest to an explanation by observing how a team that had taken an early advantage in a match had retained a strong position until the end of the game. “When both sides got on top, they've been pretty ruthless at staying on top and not allowing the other side to come back,” Cook said. Cook, whose side will look to break a seven-Test streak of alternating wins and losses by recording its first back-to-back victories of 2015, added: “I've seen a shift from one side to the other side taking the lead, but I haven't seen it shift back and forward in three games like this. Hopefully, that can stop.” No side since Australia was inspired by batting great Don Bradman back in 1936/37 has come from 2-1 down to win the Ashes, with Bradman's side 2-0 down at one stage. But Clarke said his team could record a landmark achievement of their own this Ashes. “We showed that at Lord's,” he said. “We can take confidence that we bounced back after Cardiff... we've got to have the same attitude now.” Johnson eyes Lillee's mark Mitchell Johnson has set his sights on equalling the record of mentor Dennis Lillee after becoming just the fifth Australian to take 300 Test wickets last week. Shane Warne's Australia record 708 Test wickets and Glenn McGrath's next-best 563 are set to prove far beyond the reach of the 33-year-old left-arm quick. But the Test tallies of fellow Australia fast bowlers Brett Lee (310) and Lillee (355) are within range for Johnson. One consolation for Johnson was the manner in which he got to 300 Test wickets, a rip-snorting bouncer which England's Jonny Bairstow gloved to wicketkeeper Peter Nevill. “It was a very special occasion,” Johnson said Tuesday of the delivery that did for Bairstow. “And the way I did it. I guess that's sort of a trademark for me now, to bowl that short ball and get it ripping off the gloves,” he said. “The next target for me is trying to chase down Brett Lee. That'd be really nice, he's a hero of mine,” Johnson added. But it was Lillee who first alerted Australia's hierarchy to Johnson's talent, having coming across the then teenage paceman in his role as a fast-bowling coach. Lillee has remained a source of support and Johnson said: “It would be nice to reach DK Lillee. That'd be pretty special.” Broad ready to prove Stuart Broad has been backed by his captain to lead the attack in the absence of James Anderson who has been ruled out of fourth Test. England has played five Tests without Anderson, winning two, losing one and drawing two — with both of those victories coming away to lowly Bangladesh. No wonder many Australia players have likened Anderson's injury to the moment Australia pace great Glenn McGrath trod on a stray ball before the start of the 2005 Edgbaston Test and was ruled out with an ankle injury which also sidelined him from the fourth Test of that series, at Trent Bridge. England won both matches McGrath missed that series as they regained the Ashes 2-1. Broad, however, is no novice, with the 29-year-old having taken 299 wickets in 82 Tests. Middlesex fast bowler Steven Finn was the man who stepped up at Edgbaston, marking his first appearance at this level in two years with a Test-best six for 79 in Australia's second innings after replacing the injured Mark Wood. Now Durham quick Wood in turn is set to replace Anderson provided he passes a fitness test on a longstanding ankle problem. — Agencies
