Ashes series will decide Australian captain Michael Clarke's legacy Australian captain Michael Clarke. MICHAEL Clarke stands on the precipice of history. In a few short weeks he will be widely judged as hero or villain by the result of this Ashes series. But the Australian captain believes he is neither, just another captain doing his best to lead his charges to victory in a Test series, which begins at Trent Bridge on Wednesday AEST. "I understand the perception, especially as captain, that if you have success here you might get recognised as a better captain than if you fail, and statistics and results normally indicate that," Clarke said. But for me personally I dont see it like that. Every Test match I play in, every time I walk out to bat I try and make a hundred whether it's against Bangladesh, India, South Africa or England. That doesn't change my mindset. Because of the history and tradition of what comes with Ashes cricket, which is fantastic, it obviously builds this series up and that's great for the game but as a player my mindset will be no different than it was last summer. Every time I captain Australia I want us to win. Unfortunately there are times you don't make runs, the team doesn't win, and the captain is accountable for that. I completely understand that but I don't feel like this will be the make or break of my legacy as an Australian cricketer. My captaincy might be judged, but if we win this series I don't automatically become a good captain, I don't think that's right. I think people would have seen enough of me over the past two years to work out that I'm not the right man to captain Australia or I am the right man to captain Australia. In those two years Clarke has already led Australia in 24 Tests, the same number as Bradman, with his first the final match of Australia's last ill-fated Ashes campaign in Australia when Ricky Ponting was injured. Australia lost 3-1, Ponting resigned as captain a short time later and the Argus report that resulted turned the game upside down. Clarke has now won 12 Tests, with the 50 percent success ratio putting his level with Ian Chappell and only fractionally behind Mark Taylor, two of Australia's finest former captains. It would be a monumental achievement to win this Ashes series with the team at his disposal, particularly given that just five of the 18 have toured England before. But Clarke has shown in the past his ability to be proactive and innovative as skipper. Whether that will be enough to win a series that rightly has England as favourites, history will judge.