Australia have sobered up from their dramatic second Test victory over Pakistan in Sydney to grapple with the fact almost half the team are underperforming in this series.
While Marcus North has absorbed the brunt of criticism for a summer of slim returns, none of captain Ricky Ponting (80 runs at 20), deputy Michael Clarke (89 at 29.66), batsman/wicketkeeper Brad Haddin (21 runs at seven) or paceman Peter Siddle (three wickets at 66) have delivered to the levels expected of them.
Haddin has kept exceptionally and Siddle made priceless runs at the SCG, though both will need to do significantly better in their other disciplines.
Shane Watson, Mike Hussey and the bowling trio of Mitchell Johnson, Doug Bollinger and Nathan Hauritz have fought admirably to make up the deficit, but Australian coach Tim Nielsen chose his departure for the final Test at Hobart to say a wider spread of contributions was needed.
Admitting to the inconsistency of his team, Nielsen called for a “complete performance” to round off the home Tests, knowing defeat would again drop Australia to fourth in the ICC rankings, behind Sri Lanka.
“The biggest thing for us is that while we had a tremendous result in Sydney, we certainly didn’t play at our best for the four days,” Nielsen said in Adelaide on Sunday.
“It’s good to go into the last Test match on such a high, but I think there’s probably a few guys who feel they could do a little better personally as well.
“While we’ve had some good team results over the last little while, we’ve probably got a few guys in the squad looking to improve their personal performances so there’s plenty of motivation for us.”
The swings and roundabouts of the Sydney Test made for a wondrous spectacle, but Nielsen naturally preferred the more methodical effort he saw at the MCG, where the Australians dominated Pakistan for the bulk of the match.
“It’d be nice to finish off our Test match summer now with a really complete performance,” he said.
“I thought it was quite a stark difference between Melbourne where we played beautifully for the five days, compared to Sydney where our form fluctuated quite a bit.”
Simon Katich is still to prove his fitness for Hobart and will need to demonstrate greater freedom in his elbow in order to displace Phil Hughes at the top of the order.
North, meanwhile, is guaranteed to take his place at No.6 irrespective of what happens to Katich, and Nielsen argued the West Australian was looking confident at the crease.
“The major thing is that he just hasn’t been able to get through that difficult period from zero to 20,” Nielsen said.
“We saw in Sydney (that he looked confident), he hit a beautiful straight drive down the ground, he reacted to length well, and talking to him he feels in a good place about his batting.
“A little bit of luck and getting through that initial stage where he can relax and start to play naturally will go a long way to him getting a big score.”
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