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Australia’s obsession with pace could have cost them in their opening Champions Trophy game against New Zealand if not for a downpour which washed out the contest.
The Kiwis batted very well against a pace-dominated attack to post 291 all out from 45 overs before Australia finished 3-53 just nine overs into an adjusted chase of 235 from 33 overs.
It’s hard to read too much into Australia’s batting performance – the team chasing is almost always disadvantaged significantly by the Duckworth-Lewis system for adjusting targets after poor weather shortens the match.
Australia’s initial target of chasing 291 from 46 overs on a flat pitch had the match looking like a 50-50 contest.
By the time the chase had been adjusted to a far more difficult 235 from 33 overs, on a pitch which had been sweating under the covers, Australia were behind the eight ball.
Teams chasing under the Duckworth-Lewis system also have their minds muddled by the knowledge that any further delays will only make the equation even more difficult.
So they cannot afford to build towards the target, and must instead sprint to it to protect themselves against any further rain-induced adjustments.
What was clear from this match, though, was that Australia have got the balance of their bowling attack wrong.
They left specialist leg-spinner Adam Zampa out of the side, played four frontline quicks, and bowled a paltry four overs of spin in the New Zealand innings.
(AAP Image/SNPA, John Cowpland)
Clearly, Australia did not pay attention to the opening match of this tournament, when England patently erred by playing an extra pace bowler at the cost of wrist spinner Adil Rashid.
England replaced the in-form Rashid with paceman Jake Ball, who was hammered by the Bangladesh batsmen en-route to figures of 1-82 from 10 overs.
Meanwhile, their lead spinner Moeen Ali was the most economical of the England bowlers giving up just 40 runs from eight overs.
On pitches as flat as those England now routinely produce for ODIs, variety is key to a bowling attack. The ability to take the pace off the ball is a crucial tactic for a skipper. Yet Australia continue to disrespect the role of spinners in limited overs cricket.
This neglect has been a major reason why they have continually underperformed in T20I cricket. Now it’s hampering Australia’s ODI team.
Not only have Australia frequently played without a specialist spinner in ODIs over the past year, but they’ve also regularly refused to bowl spin all-rounder Glenn Maxwell.
In the last major ODI tournament, the 2015 World Cup, Maxwell played as Australia’s sole spinner and had such a brilliant campaign that he was named in the Team of the Tournament.
Over the next five matches after that tournament, Maxwell continued to be a key bowler, sending down an average of eight overs per match while returning the fine figures of eight wickets at an average of 29.
Then, something changed. Maxwell was banished from bowling in his next ODI and has since averaged a mere 1.7 overs per game across his past 21 ODIs.
Incredibly, the Victorian has not sent down a single delivery in his past nine ODIs.
(Photo: AAP image)
Meanwhile, after being the leading wicket-taker worldwide in ODIs in 2016, with 30 wickets at 27, Zampa has also fallen out of favour.
The young spinner has only played in two of Australia’s past 11 matches, during which they’ve relied very heavily on pace bowling.
In those matches inexperienced all-rounder Travis Head has been used as their main spinner.
Despite not being nearly as talented with the ball as Zampa, Head managed to hold his own against the rampaging Kiwis yesterday.
New Zealand were 2-134 from just 20 overs, at a run rate of 6.7 runs per over, when Head came on to bowl and gave up just 22 runs from his four overs, helping Australia stem the bleeding.
Head, realistically, is only a part-time spinner but the Kiwis had to work harder for their runs opposed to him than they had against the quicks.
Australia must win their next two matches to be confident of moving into the semi-finals. The time has come has come to shed the pace obsession.
There is only room in the Australian XI for one of Pat Cummins or John Hastings. Both are quality ODI cricketers who had off nights with the ball against the Kiwis.
One of them must make way for Zampa to provide Australia with a better balanced attack in their match against Bangladesh on Monday.