Australia captain Michael Clarke has insisted the side will put their off-field troubles behind them and be "100 percent ready for the Ashes" come next month's first Test against England. The latest in a recent line of high-profile disciplinary problems saw opener David Warner suspended Thursday by Cricket Australia until the start of the first Test in Nottingham on July 10 after punching England batsman Joe Root in a Birmingham bar.
Warner's assault took place in the early hours of Sunday morning, not long after England had beaten Australia by a convincing 48-run margin in their Champions Trophy opener at Edgbaston. The incident came just three weeks after Warner was fined Aus$5,750 over an expletive-ridden Twitter tirade at two Australian cricket journalists.
In March, four Australia players were dropped by the team's South African coach Mickey Arthur for the third Test in India after failing to submit feedback requested by him. Australia lost the series 4-0. Taken together, these incidents have raised questions about the conduct of the players, Arthur's regime and Australia's ability to avoid a third successive Test series defeat against arch-rivals England - something that last happened in the 1950s.
However, Clarke - speaking alongside Warner at a London news conference on Thursday - insisted Australia were not a team in free fall. "I think David knows how I feel about the culture of this Australian team and how important I feel the standards are in this Australian team," said Clarke.
"We'll be 100 percent ready for the Ashes there's no doubt about it." Clarke added: "There is no good time to be dealing with this but this is part of what you do as leadership in this team." Prior to his suspension, the 26-year-old Warner was omitted from the Australia side that played in the no result match against New Zealand at Edgbaston on Wednesday - although he carried the drinks as 12th man.
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