by Our Sports Desk

STUART BROAD was pleased yesterday with the way England have coped with Australia captain Michael Clarke in the Ashes series so far.

Clarke has endured a tough 12 months with the bat, with back and hamstring injuries restricting him to eight matches and 15 innings.

From those, Clarke has scored 365 runs at an average of 28.07 and has managed just one century.

But Broad paid tribute to Clarke, saying: “We obviously do a lot of research on him because he averages something like 52 in over 110 Tests which is remarkable, the career he’s had.

“We talk a lot about him and we’re proud of the way we’ve bowled at him so far.

“We’ve made it hard for Michael. We know how dangerous he is. He is such a key player for them and it’s been going well so far.”

Broad and his teammates are keen to build on last week’s emphatic victory at Edgbaston and added: “It’s about resetting our minds again this week, it’s going to be a slightly different attack with (James Anderson) missing out but it’s about making sure we are right on the money.”

Alastair Cook “is very clear that it’s all about us this week. We had a great week at Cardiff. It’s about making sure our game plan is dead right and not to worry too much about what the Aussies are doing.

“We know they are a dangerous team. None of the Tests have been very close have they? Not like 2005 where each game went to the wire. It’s been a fascinating series.”

Australia’s fast bowler Mitchell Johnson is confident his side can get back on track at Trent Bridge as they look to level up the series.

England would regain the Ashes with victory in the fourth Test but Johnson said: “We’ve just got to focus on what we’ve been doing when we’ve been playing well.

“We’ve been training really well and that’s a positive for us. When we’re bubbly like that and doing our thing out there and focusing on what we need to do we generally come out and play our best cricket.

“It’s like a grand final for us, we really need to win this game and then focus after that.”