Lehmann: We have to play better

DarrenLehmann - Cropped

Australia head coach Darren Lehmann says his players must demonstrate improvement if they are to have any chance of retaining the Ashes.

After levelling the series with a crushing 405-run victory at Lord's, Australia succumbed to an eight-wicket defeat inside three days at Edgbaston.

That triumph gave the hosts a 2-1 lead with two matches to play, with Lehmann's side needing at least a draw from the series to take the little urn back Down Under.

"We're disappointed with the way we played," Lehmann said. "We've got to play better than we did here and get back to playing the way we want to play.

"They [England] did bowl very well but that's Test match cricket. We have to be better to cope with those scenarios and they bowled a lot better than we did.

"We can't worry about the scoreline, we just have to play the game and we try and win every game we play.

"We'll try and get away from it a little bit and get into the preparation for the next Test match [at Trent Bridge, starting on Thursday]."

Lehmann was also quizzed on the decision not to select veteran wicketkeeper Brad Haddin, who was left out of the second Test for personal reasons but was available to be chosen at Edgbaston.

"We're close as a group and Brad has been a fantastic cricketer for Australia for a long period of time and that's one of the hardest decisions I've made," he said.

"We had to make the decision, it was a tough one to make but I can't speak highly enough of him, he's ready and doing everything he can just in case."

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