Party time for Australia tempered by call from Clarke to clinch Test series

The hosts produced the most polished performance of Clarke’s brief captaincy reign at the Sydney Cricket Ground, recording an emphatic innings-and-68-run victory over the tourists late on the fourth day.

It leaves the hosts two up with two to play ahead of next week’s third Test in Perth.

“We want to win the series, simple as that,” said Clarke, whose unbeaten 329 formed the backbone of his side’s victory. “We want to win every Test match we play and we would love to win this series in Perth.

“So we still have a lot to play for, there’s no doubt about that. We’ve won two Test matches, we haven’t won the series yet so there’s still a lot of work to go in.

“We definitely need to enjoy tonight and celebrate together as a team.

“I think we’ve played some really good cricket as a team, so I’m looking forward to celebrating that first and foremost.

“It’s a huge series for this team. It’s the first series I’ve been full-time captain in Australia in front of my home fans and the Australian public so it was important I stood up.”

While his own heroics with the bat as well as centuries for Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey helped set up the victory, the captain heaped praise on his in-form bowling attack.

“I think our execution was very good and I’d like to give a lot of credit to our bowlers,” he said.

“I thought the way we bowled in the first innings set the Test match up for us and then to be able to take 10 wickets on a really flat wicket out there today they deserve a lot of credit.”

Despite the demoralising nature of his team’s defeat, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni still feels his side can bounce back at the WACA.

“We have lost the chance of winning the series but still with two more Test matches to go we can level,” he said. “People talked a lot about winning the series over here but right from the very first press conference I’ve said it’s not about how good we look on paper. It’s about what you do on the field.”