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Secret Cricketer: Ian Bell and Michael Clarke are playing their last Ashes

The topsy-turvy nature of this Ashes Test is a result of two teams nowhere near the top of their game, and I agree with a few others that have said the same. With the performances swinging wildly questions start to get asked.

For me, this could have been Ian Bell’s last test. He saved himself, but for how long?

Runs and subsequent confidence, at his home ground, should see him set for the series, but I still can’t see him continuing after this year’s Ashes. I can’t place what makes me feel this. If England walk away winning the series it would be a perfect time to get out. For a class player, a good man and a man well respected by players around the world, it’s hard to put up with your form and your importance to the team being questioned. It hurts. It seems whenever Bell’s place comes under the microscope he churns out performances. Sometimes you have players in the dressing room like that and does he need pressure on him more often and how can the team and management draw out his best scores? Some people need a cuddle, some need a kick up the backside and some need to be left alone. When he hasn’t previously performed and the team needs him on the back of pretty failures he then has eventual success - the question that has never been answered is how do you force that feeling onto him every time he goes out to bat?

It is interesting to see bowlers Mark Footitt and Liam Plunkett in the squad for the fourth Test in place of the injured Jimmy Anderson.

I expect Plunkett to play if Mark Wood isn’t fit but Footitt is being used in the squad as the perfect net bowler. That’s not to say he won’t play, but conditions would have to be absolutely perfect for the swinging quick. The quickest lefty in the country and right there on the cusp of the Test team, it’s a good move for both England and Footitt – they both get to see more of each other, although if not now for him, when will it be? Away vs Pakistan in Oct/Nov or Away vs SA Dec/Jan?

As for Adam Lyth, can he survive any more failures at the top? I do hope so.

He was a lot closer to the axe in this selection than most may realise - but you can’t keep chopping and changing like England have done in the last two years. If he goes, who comes in? Is Nick Compton the answer? Well, he can’t be far away. The biggest problem for him though - and perhaps is the reason Lyth remains - is the tag on him that ‘his face doesn’t’ fit?’ – whatever that means. Compton is clearly on the outside. But one thing that hasn’t been laid on the table: he doesn’t get on with the captain. No dressing room that I’ve ever been involved in has ever completely got on and for prime examples just look at the Australian team of the 90s and the West Indies side of the 80s - two teams in their most successful period. Players will dislike each other and the captain - and vice versa. Not everyone will get along but there needs to be stable working relationships within the egos in the dressing room. There’s obviously an issue there and it doesn’t help that Compton and Alastair Cook are also the opening pair. But David Warner and Chris Rogers have walked out together to bat for Australia for some time and it’s no secret to anyone that they don’t get on. Compton’s commitment has also been called into question, with talk of him feigning injury to not field on the final day of a Test previously. But that was in the Andy Flower era and, seriously, if the guy says he can’t field then he’s not hiding from playing at international level - he’d know the risk he’d be running if he did that. I can’t believe that Compton would sit it out for an injury that wasn’t real. I have to admit though, that his retweeting of compliments and ‘you should be playing’ messages during this series seems a little strange if you want to get back in. Just let your weight of runs, your county Director of Cricket, who happens to be an England selector, and your game attitude do the work.

Before the third Test I was wondering had Brad Haddin played his last game – and it would be sad if he has.

The scorecard from the Australians’ Tour Match vs Derbyshire during the week saw Peter Nevill bat higher than Haddin and take the gloves. It’ll be a sad way to see Haddin go out. He missed the second Test for family reasons and whatever they were family always comes first. To then miss the next Test on the back of what Nevill did in Derby (not that much, really) and for that to then possibly call an end to his place in the side, would be a rather ugly end to an impressive career.

As I said, swinging performances put pressure on players so there may be other changes for Australia. And it could be right at the top.

Michael Clarke is quite clearly struggling. Body movements look tough, and timing all off. His long-term lower back disorder seems to be restricting Clarke. He does look a little lost out there, so will Steve Smith step into the breach? Clarke, like Bell, often performs when the chips are down but on the back of physical struggles, the head starts to doubt how much more you can handle. Immobility and pain are tiring, physically and mentally. And to have continued success in Test cricket you have to stay fresh. Clarke looks less than fresh. If not for this Test then I expect an announcement before the last that it will be his last as captain.

Heading into the fourth test, then, England need to learn from what has already happened this series. But how do they do that?

They will be on a high, and rightly so, but after their big victory in Cardiff they were in danger of becoming complacent, which I’ve seen them do before, and their performance in the second Test was weak. Inside any of the successful dressing rooms I’ve been in, captains and coaches go to the individual players to reinforce their roles within the makeup of the team and by being hyper aware of it you more likely to sustain your performance.