Video: Australia know they have to work hard despite better batting in third Ashes Test

Australia’s captain Michael Clarke admitted they would have to work hard to build on their positive batting display in the third Ashes Test.

England‘s Graeme Swann said he was still confident they could wrap up the series at Old Trafford.

Graeme Swann, England spin bowler: (on England’s position in the match going into day three)

“The fact that Cooky (England captain Alastair Cook) is still there is great for us, because he’s due a good score and Trotty (Jonathan Trott), he’s a world class player as well and we’ve got Kev (Kevin Pietersen) and Belly (Ian Bell) and Jonny Bairstow and the rest to come, so we’re very happy with our line-up and we see the way to win this game is to go past the Australian total, get a bit of a lead and then see what happens on days four and five.”

Michael Clarke, Australia captain: (on Australia’s batting performance as a team)

“It’s about time, I guess. Look, I think the team should be extremely proud of the position we’re in at the moment. We’ve copped a little bit of criticism after not making enough runs in the first two Tests matches and rightly so, but I think the way everybody did their job in the first innings is credit to all the boys. We’ve worked extremely hard in the lead-up to this Test match and it was nice for everyone to get a bit of a result, but we’ve got a lot of work ahead, the wicket, as you’ve seen is pretty flat, there’s not much movement there for the bowlers, and hopefully, we’ll get a second innings as well, so we’re going to have to bat well then as well.”

Graeme Swann, England spin bowler: (on David Warner’s wlecome by the crowd and his decision to review the umpire’s decision after he was given out)

“Well, I think you all heard the atmosphere from the crowd, I think David’s stepped into that ‘pantomime villain’ role that Ricky Ponting‘s left behind. The English crowd are always going to be looking for someone to ‘boo’ and take out all their ‘antipodean antipathy’ out on and Dave’s obviously the man for his earlier antics on the tour. It was all quite funny, nothing was really said to him I think, from our players.

Michael Clarke, Australia captain: (on Australia’s position in the series overall)

“You know, it’s about where we sit in the series right now. We have to win three Test matches, so I’m certainly pleased with the first three days, but it’s irrelevant if we don’t win this Test match, so we’re going to have to work exceptionaly hard, even harder that we’ve worked over the first two days, over the next three.”

Graeme Swann, England spin bowler: (on how the Old Trafford pitch will play out over the next three days)

“Well, what will be interesting is how much (Australian bowler) Mitchell Starc’s footholes will play, how much of a part they’ll play in the game. If they dig up nicely, then they make the off-spinner’s life a bit more easy to the right-handers, but we’ll have to wait and see. I expect that pitch to be very good for batting tomorrow, still a good one on day four and then day five, when we bowl Australia out, it will be amazing to bowl on!”