Monday 22 June 2015 05:56, UK
Michael Clarke has shrugged off a claim from former Australia paceman Jason Gillespie that the current squad is too old to beat England this summer.
Gillespie, who was in contention to replace Peter Moores as England coach before Trevor Bayliss was appointed, labelled Clarke's side 'Dad's Army', singling out 37-year-old wicketkeeper Brad Haddin, 37-year-old opener Chris Rogers, 35-year-old paceman Ryan Harris and Clarke himself, who has battled a series of injuries at the age of 34.
But Clarke used his first press conference ahead of the series - which begins in Cardiff on July 8 - to dismiss such criticism, insisting his squad enjoys proving people wrong.
"Jason's entitled to his opinion," he said. "Join the queue. I've copped criticism my whole career.
"There's a long list of people who've criticised this team. We might just add 'Dizzy' to that list of people we continue to prove wrong."
Still, Australia have not won in England since 2001 and Clarke recognises the challenge facing his side.
"If we play our best we give ourselves the best chance, but I've been playing for long enough to know that playing here is a really tough challenge - our record over the last 10 or 15 years is certainly not what we'd like, but there's a good reason for that. England are very tough to beat at home."
Australia hold the Ashes after the 5-0 whitewash in 2013/14 and Clarke hopes the mixture of youth and experience in his side will serve them well in England.
"Steve Smith, David Warner, Nathan Lyon and our pace attack - a lot of our young players have come a long way over the last couple of years.
"The senior players in the group deserve a lot of praise for helping mentor those players through the tough times and we are seeing the benefit of that now. They will play a big part in this series. The youth and enthusiasm that we get from those younger players is vital to our squad.
"There is a lot of hunger in the senior players that haven't had a chance to win over here. I think that's what's been driving us to get out of bed and try and improve as players and a team.
"Both teams will play hard. We respect there is a line you can't cross. Both teams might headbutt that line but I'm confident we won't overstep that mark."
