Michael Clarke is confident Australia can take the fight to England in the Ashes Phil Hughes grew as an international batsman as the tour of India played out. EVERYONE in Australian cricket knows how much the Ashes means to the country and we will do everything within our power to turn the ship around after our disappointing tour of India. All of us understand our performances over the last four Tests were not acceptable. But, that said, we are only a couple of months removed from advancing to within one Test match of taking the No.1 ranking from South Africa. That suggests all is not lost and talk of us being the worst Australian team in history is a bit harsh. One bad tour doesn't define a squad and I'm confident we can take the fight to England. With the exception of Shane Watson and myself, our top order had very little long-form exposure to Indian pitches and that showed in our inconsistency with the bat. We picked a squad we thought was suited to Indian conditions and provided plenty of all-round options and we will look to fine-tune that for the what lies ahead in England. We have eight weeks before the squad leaves Australia for the Champions Trophy and I'll be involved in plenty of discussions with Mickey Arthur and Pat Howard over that time. We all know that if you keep doing the same things you will keep getting the same results, so it's important we analyse the positives and negatives to come out of India and move forward. A lot of the focus has been on the negative, and that's fair enough in the circumstances, but I also think we shouldn't lose sight of some of the areas in which we progressed. Phil Hughes grew as an international batsman as the tour played out, Ed Cowan found a way to have success in tough conditions and Steve Smith showed composure at the crease. James Pattinson and Peter Siddle worked tirelessly in difficult conditions and their pace partner, Mitchell Starc, showed incredible maturity down the order. Nathan Lyon's nine- wicket performance in Delhi was also a good reward for effort. All these factors prove that this squad has the ability to beat the best teams in the world, but we have to improve our consistency in all areas of our play. It was, without doubt, a hard tour of India and one I hope will drive us on to better things in the months ahead. Personally, it was devastating to miss my first-ever Test through injury. Cricket Australia's medical staff sent me home for scans while the match was playing out and I would have given anything to be out there in the middle at Feroz Shah Kotla with the boys. The recommendation from the CA medical staff and back specialist is that I have a lower back and hamstring injury that will need careful management over the next 7-10 weeks. This will give me every chance to be fit for what lies ahead. The players know how big the next 12 months are and it is still our aim to win back the urn and make Australia proud.