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Watching Australia bat so feebly on Australia Day, it was easy to imagine Ricky Ponting’s men had all chosen to do an Andrew Symonds and go fishing instead of attend the team meeting.
At the very least they had left their plans at the hotel, for Ponting’s pre-match orders were disobeyed almost to the letter.
Ponting had put the onus on his top order players – David Warner, Shaun Marsh, Mike Hussey and himself – to fashion an innings of substance and weight, so relieving the pressure on an inexperienced middle.
“It is really the responsibility of the guys at the top of the order, once they get off to a good start, make sure they can go on and make really big scores,” Ponting had said.
“As we have seen in the history of the game, if someone at the top of the order makes 100 you are generally going to make high 200s, low 300s sort of scores.”
Having nodded intently at this advice, Warner and Marsh were both out before the end of the third over, caught off shots that they need not have played.
Later, Hussey (28) and Ponting (63) would trudge off the ground in consecutive overs after both made starts.
Similarly, Ponting had talked about his middle order players showing a greater level of street smarts through the middle of an innings, keeping in mind that the batting powerplay offered the chance for acceleration with wickets in hand.
Sound counsel, but it was not followed through.
Brad Haddin, David Hussey and Cameron White all fell victim to over-expansive shots, going for boundaries when a few more singles might have preserved their wickets.
Unable to follow instruction, the Australians were punished by their more disciplined opponents, led ably by captain and spinner Johan Botha (2-28).
This resulted in the rather pitiful sight of the batting powerplay being taken with career tailender Ben Hilfenhaus at the crease.
It has been reported that Symonds could be facing more intensive rehab after his latest alcohol-related escapade showed he was perhaps not doing as he had been told.
Much more of the batting seen at Adelaide Oval and the Australian team will need some remedial sessions of their own.
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