The Bench Factor

So Michael Clarke returns home, for reasons best described by JRod.

Us New Zealand fans regularly end up having to lament about never being able to see our best XI on the park together. Ryder, Elliott, Oram, Mills, Franklin, Tuffey, Taylor and Vettori make up an ominous injury/absence list. But then so do Marsh, Ferguson, Lee, Siddle, Bracken and Clarke.

Have Australia enjoyed the better of this series so far because the gap in class between their incumbents and replacements is a lot narrower than in NZ's case? Or is it because they choose to shrug off all that talk of injuries and simply get on with it? I wonder.