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The cancellation of Australia’s Test tour of Bangladesh will leave their new-look side even more vulnerable for the three-Test home series against New Zealand in a month’s time.
Australia will be packed with rookies after a raft of retirements and the Bangladesh series would have offered these new players a chance to acclimatise to Test cricket out of the media glare of the home summer.
Even though the conditions in Bangladesh would have been vastly different to those in Australia, the tour would have afforded important preparation for the vastly inexperienced New Zealand side.
Australia’s top seven will be littered with fresh faces when the first Test against New Zealand starts on November 5 in Brisbane following the retirements of Chris Rogers, Michael Clarke, Shane Watson and Brad Haddin.
The home side’s batting has been a major weakness over the past few years and will be greener than ever when the Kiwis land.
New Zealand always shaped as a formidable foe for Australia after making huge strides over the past two years. Now the sudden exodus of veterans mean the Kiwis must be licking their chops at the thought of overcoming their horrendous record in Australia.
New Zealand have built their best Test side since the 1980s, which also happens be the last time that they had an edge over their cross-Tasman rivals. Over the past 22 years, Australia’s win-loss record against New Zealand in Tests is an incredible 18-1.
Among those victories were a raft of crushing results – five-innings wins, three nine-wicket wins and one ten-wicket win.
It was not that New Zealand was always a woeful side, although at times they were, rather these lopsided results were indicative of the extraordinary strength of Australian cricket from the mid-1990s through to the late-2000s.
This time New Zealand will arrive in Australia as clearly the better Test team. Where Australia will be hastily trying to rebuild their XI, the Kiwis have a settled and confident team.
The biggest threat from New Zealand looks set to come from their superb new ball pair of Trent Boult and Tim Southee.
Swing has been Australia’s undoing time and again and few Test cricketers have better control over the moving ball than Boult and Southee.
Rogers was Australia’s best player of swing and with him gone and talk of captain Steve Smith moving back down the order to four, the home side could have two new batsmen in their top three. Boult and Southee would love that.
The venues for the first two Tests could be Australia’s saving grace. The Gabba and the WACA surfaces suit Australia more than any other pitches in the world.
Australia’s one clear advantage over the tourists will be pace. In Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc they have two quicks who regularly reach 150kmh.
Johnson’s record at the WACA is incredible, while Starc gains extremely sharp lift from hard decks thanks to his express speed and 196-centimetre frame.
For most of the Kiwi batsmen, this will be a new challenge. Never before have they faced this kind of pace on Test pitches so swift and bouncy.
Australia will need Johnson to relocate his mojo after a limp showing in the Ashes.
He, Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon will have to perform at, or very close to, their peak against New Zealand because Australia’s batting looks weak.
Without the chance to develop some chemistry and confidence in their new batting line-up on the tour of Bangladesh, Australia’s top seven will be ripe for the picking.