Australia captain Michael Clarke has admitted that his side's batting was not good enough during their defeat in the fourth Ashes Test today.

Australia were set a modest target of 299 runs to win by England and looked set to cruise to that total when Chris Rogers and David Warner put on an opening partnership of 109.

However, two wickets apiece for Graeme Swann and Tim Bresnan backed up a dazzling display by Stuart Broad, who took six of the nine wickets to fall in an action-packed evening session.

Clarke acknowledged the contribution of Broad and Ian Bell, who was eventually dismissed for 113, but believes that his side are ultimately to blame for losing the Test match.

"I guess to only lose by 75 [74] runs, we can take some positives, but our batting and middle order wasn't good enough today," he told reporters.

"I don't want to take anything away from England. Stuart Broad was outstanding in both innings and what a century from Ian Bell. We should have got more in our first innings but it takes good execution with the ball and they made the first tough breakthrough getting Chris Rogers.

"I think it was a pretty good batting wicket once we got through the new ball. It was always going to be a tough chase but if we played like we did in Manchester we'd have had a good shot at winning a Test match. I think a few of us need some more runs. We'll be working our backsides off. There's a lot to play for at The Oval."

The win gave England an unassailable 3-0 lead going into the final Test at the Oval that starts on August 21.