Australia’s woeful, humiliating, and backyard grade defeat to India has highlighted that quite frankly, the Australian Test team just doesn’t cut it anymore on the big stage.
The biggest conundrum that faces the selectors is that even if they do slash and burn the team, there just isn’t enough adequate Test-level players at first class level to call from.
But general lack of depth and talent cannot be used as an excuse when the team is beaten so comprehensively.
Lesser teams have put up better fights than the one Australia have put up so far in India. Australia can blame no-one but themselves regarding their atrocious attitude towards technique and discipline in foreign conditions. Australia needs to improve. And fast.
The beloved Ashes series, of which Australian cricket is inexplicably centred around, is just months away.
Sadly, it is a lost cause in India, but shouldn’t be in England. The short term remedy for Australia lies in playing more and more comprehensive tour matches.
In the current series, just two tour matches were scheduled. One, a mickey mouse two day game that did not have first class status, and the other a three day game against India A.
In short, a raft of players were sent weeks early and only played two tour matches. It begs the question about what they were doing in the meantime?
There is a nine-day break between the second and third Tests (actually ten, because Australia were so inept). There is no tour match scheduled.
Why? Michael Clarke has stated that there will be no rest in this break. They will train and train and train.
Unfortunately, there will be no improvement. Australia desperately needs to get better at facing spin on crumbling pitches with no bounce.
But with no tour matches in this break, the only practice people like Watson, Hughes, Warner, Wade etc are going to get will be from Maxwell, Doherty, Lyon and Smith.
It’s hardly inspiring. You’ll learn how to face 90km/h armballs, but not anything that turns.
Better, and more humble planning, would have seen Australia play at least three three day tour matches before the first Test, and definitely one in the middle break.
The adage of the recent years is to correct technique issues in the nets. This is rubbish. Correct technique in first class tour matches, which are a real examination of one’s progress.
Maybe ‘informed player management’ has been a factor in limiting tour matches, but surely players would risk injury to spare themselves of embarrassing defeat?
As I’ve said earlier, there is no chance in India now, Australia treated this Test series as a ‘fly in, fly out’ pre-Ashes jaunt and have paid dearly for it. Getting belted by India is one thing, getting belted by England is another.
Cricket Australia should seriously investigate the feasibility of squeezing in another two or three tour games in England, so that the Australians can get used to the swinging ball…another department they struggle in.
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