Michael Clarke called for groundsmen to prepare pitches as they wish after finishing his Australia career with a victory over England at the end of an Ashes series in which none of the five Tests went the distance.

Australia won the final Test by an innings and 46 runs at The Oval on Sunday to salvage some pride, with England running out 3-2 winners to regain the little urn.

After Australia's crushing victory at Lord's in the second Test that levelled the series at 1-1, much was made of the pitch not suiting the England bowling attack.

Alastair Cook's men then secured resounding victories at Edgbaston and Trent Bridge on surfaces that the allowed likes of James Anderson, Steven Finn and Stuart Broad to come into their own.

Outgoing Australia captain Clarke believes groundsmen should be given a license to make up their own minds over pitches they produce, hinting that Cook and England head Trevor Bayliss or even the media may have had too much of a say in this series.

He said: "I don't know what influence the ECB had, and I don't know what influence the Board has in Australia, either, to be honest.

"For the sake of Test cricket, it would have been nice to play on better wickets.

"I think Test cricket is a five-day battle. I want to see good and fair cricket for both batters and bowlers, I think that's the way the game should be played.

"We saw in the first two Test matches a lot of talk from the media and the commentators about how flat the wickets were, and yet those two Test matches were over in four days. The next three were over in two-and-a-half and three days.

"People have tickets to watch a whole day's play today, tomorrow, and the same at Edgbaston and Nottingham. I think the fans of the game deserve to see a really good contest for five days.

"I've got a feeling from a few of the conversations I've been having with groundsmen around the country that they're a little bit disappointed that they haven't been able to do as they have wanted to do.

"The thing I will say is that I would like to see around the world, not just here, groundsmen have the courage to go with what they think is a good cricket wicket.

"If a groundsman knows how to produce a good wicket that will make for a great battle of Test match cricket I would like to see them go with that and not be persuaded by what is said in the media."