Thrashed Australia can be No. 1 again: Arthur

Australia can bounce back from their 4-0 humbling away to India and become the top Test nation within two years, according to head coach Mickey Arthur.

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Australia slumped to their first four-Test whitewash in 43 years and were outplayed in every facet of the game in a major reality-check before back-to-back Ashes series this year.

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Arthur drew a storm of criticism in Australia for standing down four players for the third test for indiscipline, but said the punishments were necessary.

"Hopefully this is the foundation for something good," Arthur told reporters in Perth on Tuesday.

"We could have gone and just carried on and we would have been third in the world comfortably.

"We don't accept that.

"We want to get ourselves to No. 1 in the world and give ourselves the best possible opportunity to do that."

"We've put some stuff in place that we think can get that team there over the next 24 months."

India was Australia's final taste of Test cricket before they tour England for the first Ashes series in the northern hemisphere summer.

England won the Ashes on home soil in 2009 and retained the trophy with a convincing 3-1 triumph in 2011, their first series win in Australia for nearly a quarter of a century.