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Yes the Australian middle order failed again, and yes, we lost another Test match. But imagine Ryan Harris bowling at England after Australia got knocked over for 136 on a superb bowling track – things would have been very different.
Instead we had Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc running in bowling short and wide. Hazlewood particularly let Ian Bell, who was struggling until this game, off the hook by bowling some absolute cheesy deliveries, leaking three successive boundaries.
Starc on the other hand kept leaking runs. For some reason he has been persisted with by the selectors despite him clearly not showing any signs of being a Test bowler. His average in this series stands at 31.66 at 4.16 runs per over, which is unacceptable for a new ball bowler.
This is where we lost the match.
Michael Clarke had a lucky break-through when Alastair Cook was unfortunate to have been caught by Adam Voges off Nathan Lyon. Lyon was turning the ball but was taken out of the attack next over and Hazlewood continued his boundary-leaking spree. Hazlewood and Starc conceded 25 boundaries at more than 4.5 runs per over in that innings; things would have been a lot different had we bowled tighter.
Everyone seems to be going after the batsmen, which is justified, but our bowling let us down big time. We have plenty of bowlers in the shield capable of playing Test cricket. Jackson Bird is much closer to a Glenn McGrath replacement than Hazlewood. We need a bowler who keeps it tight for Mitchell Johnson to attack in short spells. Hazlewood, despite being talked up as the new McGrath, is nowhere close to being that bowler.
An ideal bowling line-up would be Johnson, Bird, James Pattinson and Lyon. Darren Lehmann says he wants pure pace, but continues picking Hazlewood.
Coming to the batting, Our top three are set, and Clarke deserves another go. Voges can be replaced with Shaun Marsh. My real worry is seeing Shaun bat above Nevill.
Going by what I saw at Edgbaston, Mitch Marsh has obvious technical flaws and England have found him out with the bat, while with the ball he isn’t keeping it tight nor picking up wickets.
Nevill showed brilliant composure batting almost 25 overs. Forget what he scored, he batted for 150 deliveries which today is a rarity in any Australian batting attack. We need someone who can dig in, and Nevill showed he can attack when the situation demands at Lord’s. He should certainly bat above Marsh.
I would go in with an extra bowler/batsman in place of Mitch Marsh. We need to end our obsession with all-rounders.
I’d give Voges another go in Mitch Marsh’s place. Voges bowls handy left-arm off-spin (surprised he hasn’t been used this series) to fill the all-rounder gap.
The best all-rounder in Australia has to be James Faulkner. He can fight out of any situation, and has proved both his bowling and batting capabilities in limited overs cricket time and again. He should be given another go in Test cricket after he serves his ban.
Lehmann needs to quit his obsession with pace and all rounders. McGrath didn’t bowl 140 kph all his career, and we are good enough to win without an all rounder, at least until Mitch Marsh is ready.
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