Where to start with the dog’s breakfast of a performance that Australia dished up in India?
Coaching, selecting, batting, unbalanced XIs (with an eye and half on the Ashes), inexperienced and unqualified slow bowlers who are asked to open the batting, management, the system?
Not to mention discipline, ‘insubordination’ and a crap attitude.
These would usually be the surgeon’s menu for dissecting a football (insert appropriate code acronym here) team’s ability to finish with the wooden spoon then trash a dressing room/hotel room/library when they mistook it for a fast food franchise.
Australian cricket, at the elite level at least, is in considerable chaos.
The challenges of a Test series in India are always significant, although considerably less so in 2013 from the survivability viewpoint.
In 1959-60 several players returned from India with serious doses of hepatitis. Gordon Rorke, the hulking NSW and Gordon fast – very fast – left-armer lost six stones (almost 20 kgs) and never regained his pace and hostility.
Gavin Stephens never played cricket again let alone represent his state or country. He was very close to death.
Cholera, typhoid and hepatitis were daily threats. Five-star hotels are now the norm for international tourists and cricketers. There are neutral umpires. They have no excuses.
The current Australian team’s greatest threat was cramps from signing too many autographs or texting their sponsors for more freebies.
21st century India is a delight for tourists and a heaven if you might be a cricketer of any standard.
Playing against competent spin – and you wouldn’t put Ravi Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja or Pragyan Ohja in the genius pot but certainly in the ‘tough to play on the those made-to-order bunsens’ – was the difficult bit. Not life-threatening but possibly career-threatening.
The Australian XI for the first Test, on a pitch with a surface as readable and dog eared as a Fifty Shades of Grey novel, was seam bowling-heavy and declared the best attack they could muster.
Missing the obvious – that pitches that spin usually make spinners more effective, just as pitches that seam do for seamers.
Nathan Lyon took a ‘seven-for’ eventually, because the pitch at Delhi spun and bounced at varying heights. He would have been expected to take more wickets than anyone else, and he did.
Well bowled Nathan, after he (or his confidants) finally worked out he could be effective bowling around the wicket. This fundamental tactic was ignored for three Tests.
Elite coaches, bowling coaches in particular, are supposed to know this stuff. But can we wave a feather duster at the bowling coach, Allister de Winter, who may not have seen a single ball deviate for the slow men in his playing career at Bellerive?
He could not direct Lyon to pitch wide into the acres of rubble created by follow throughs and batting spikes and Lyon had little knowledge to work his own tricks.
He kept his mantra of ‘keeping it tight’ and monotonous, discarding the taking of risk in search of greater reward.
But one of the main reasons for the lack of experience of any of the slow men, besides their youth and comparatively few matches, is that Australian first class pitches don’t spin any more. Even the SCG has become infected with green grass.
The final Sheffield Shield match pitch at the SCG looked like a putting surface at the Australian Open and promising leggie Adam Zampa was made 12th man – the correct decision for the pitch but not for the future of Australian cricket.
South Australia imported a captain who bowled slow without great effect, hardly a positive for the Redbacks or Australian cricket on a pitch where spin at least has some chance to prosper.
The new drop-ins at the famous ground will be yet another knife between the ribs of spin bowling.
Cameron Boyce bowled only 101 Shield overs this season and Fawad Ahmed has been imported, away from personal peril, having learnt his stuff on the ant beds of Pakistan’s North West Frontier province.
This may be the way toward the next Shane Warne because the pitch makers of this country are certainly not contributing.
It used to be that spinners would always play at Adelaide and Sydney, MCG maybe, but not so much since drop-in pitches aided the centre bounce.
Bellerive was a road, Perth and Brisbane did not suit spin unless you had an all-rounder but the high risk leggies would often get three matches maybe plus a tour game to wheel their wares.
More spinners bowling means batsmen have to learn how to play them, it’s a double whammy. If you played your home games at the SCG or Adelaide Oval then you had better have an idea about how to bat, survive, then prosper against spin.
Slow bowling in T20 and ODI stuff is flat, predictable and appropriate, the method does not help Test or first class bowlers one bit – exemplar Xavier Doherty.
The Australian team have raced backward in India. The batting order and those who might fill it is confused, the best wicketkeeper-batsman-leader and potential captain played one Test, Nathan Lyon did improve, Xavier Doherty plummeted, we found out about Glenn Maxwell and Shane Watson’s captaincy.
Australia’s next series will not be carried out on big turning pitches, although you never know what the Poms might produce given their outstanding series win in India.
Whatever they come up with might not matter given the state of the Australians.
Time to bring in players with form, coaches with experience and selectors that can tell an apple from an orange.
Robbo
Guest
Henry Sorry to be pedantic at this late hour but Gordon Rorke wasn't a left hander. Otherwise spot on. Watching the IPL games at the moment you realise how much the test pitches were doctored. But India has so much power CA doesn't threaten them with no more tours which would be a correct response. They didnt doctor for the England series because they knew their spinners were better.
Clavers
Guest
TedS and Bearfax, the Indians also saw it coming. Remember their adminitions to Warner while he was making his 180?
Clavers
Guest
There might have been a tiny bit of science behind the decision to open the batting with Maxwell; it worked in a one-dayer. Bowling spin with a new ball is a big ask. Fair enough to give it to Lyon but to see what he could do but not the newbie "all-rounder." I would have liked to have seen Johnson sending down his off-cutters, which should have snared two early wickets in the first innings but the slips were standing too far back for that dead track.
Davo
Guest
Henry you state in your article that "we found out about Maxwell". I agree ... What we found out is that he is a good spin bowler and that based on the stats he was our best spinner over there: Maxwell: 7 wickets for 193 runs at 27 runs per wicket and a strike rate of 35 balls using 41 overs Lyon: 15 wickets for 635 runs at 42 runs per wicket and a strike rate of 52 balls using 130 overs. England is not India .. that's the stage he will excell on! He has an ability to take wickets ... Quickly ... And can be used to smack runs quickly when needed. Not sure why the hate for Maxwell? I would have ahead of Mr Watson any day!
Davo
Guest
Sorry Swampy but your comment is utter rubbish! You must have a very deep seated hate of Maxwell to make such a ridiculous comment. Look at the stats mate and you will find that Maxwell was our best performed spinner in India. He took 7 at 27 runs and importantly at a strike rate of 35 balls and using only 41 overs. Lyon took 15 wickets for 653 runs at 44 runs per wicket and a strike rate of 58 balls. They the facts! Now before you reply with the standard boring come back that Maxwells wickets were tail enders ... 6 of his wickets were top six batsmen and one was a tail enders. At one stage had Wade or Cowan held their catches he would have had 6 or 7 wickets in one match.
Brendon
Guest
He went home for the birth of his child, so did he really serve his suspension?, he would have hone home anyway. I liken it to a footy player getting weeks when the coach was going to rest him anyway, or he is injured. Doesn't really hurt them.
USIndian
Guest
First time posting here. I have read through this website with great interest. Although several very interesting as well as relevant points have been made regarding the state of cricket in Australia. I also find some the stuff being spouted is terribly ignorant. So, let us tackle the first one. The pitches in India. Please, there is no deep conspiracy to "doctor" the pitches. Dhoni can ask whatever he wants, but there is not much a curator can do other than control how much grass is on the pitch.The reason the pitches are the way they are are because of the soil, sun and humidity. Please understand that the seasons in India are a little bit different than the rest of the world. It is very hot throughout the year, November and December being relatively cooler in North India but not by much in South India. But May to November is the *wet* season with *two* monsoon winds bringing massive amounts of rain. There is a *LOT* of dew in the evenings and the game of cricket is *COMPLETELY* different during the wet season. The ball behaves differently. The skiess are overcast, interrupted by frequent thunderstorms. Yes the outfield is covered with dew even at 10:30 am when the game starts. Also, the daylight fades very quickly in the evenings. Remember Aussies *Never* tour during their summer and England *ONLY* tour during their winter. So to think that the England series is the same as the series Australia played is sheer ignorance of Indian conditions. Only point to remember about Indian pitches, is that there is very little bounce and being softer than Aussie pitches, they lose pace, not because some curator designed them that way, but that is the what happens when pitches made of soil with high clay content is baked in the searing heat. They crack and crumble. You guys have no idea what it takes to keep the outfield green. In the past, you would see massive patches of bald outfield on test grounds where teh grass *died* in the heat of the summer. I hear a lot of grumbling about preparing pitches that take spin in Australia. I have heard the same argument of preparing green tops for Ranji Trophy matches to encourage fast bowlers as well as improve batsmen's technique to deal with fast bowling. Believe it or not, that has been happening (finally!!!) quite regularly in the past 4 to 5 years. More fast bowlers have come on the scene with Indian Cricket in the past 10 years that all the previous years combined. IPL has also helped tremendously in exposing our up and coming players to world class players. They have absorbed a lot of knowledge as have foreigners who have played in the IPL. (Granted T20 and Test cricket are two different games) As you are aware, almost all well known Australian coaches as well as coaches world over coach in India. Indian cricket is very grateful for all the knowledge and our boys are learning from the best. Why not *IMPORT* some coaches who can teach the art of spin bowling to Australians? Or better still, why not send a crop of young Aussies to work with an Indian coach in *India*? Similarly, reciprocate by getting some young Indian boys here to teach them about fast bowling. Everybody gains by sharing knowledge. It is very possible that this is already happening. Please feel free to correct me. I like the idea of different countries offering different environments and conditions. That is a challenge to be overcome. That is what makes test cricket very exciting to watch.
matt h
Guest
I think Darren Patterson had to take the cake. Not becasue he had been living and bowling in Victoria and was basically over in England to have a go at county cricket, but becaseu he isn't actually very good.
Bob
Guest
Surely the solution therefore is to ask players to choose which form they want to play? Siddle has stated his preference and his performances reflect this. I worry guys like Warner and Wade will never be good test cricketers until they put their full energy into long form cricket. Otherwise they will be always injured, exhausted or not be in the right frame for long form cricket.
JMW
Guest
Forget Maxwell, O'Keefe has him covered. Forget Bailey, he is the Xavier of the batsmen. First class is termed first class for a reason. ODI performances shouldn't pick a Test team or squad for that matter. Let's never forget Xavier Doherty!
JMW
Guest
Ok - Inverarity is obviously a kook, but is Rod Marsh also clueless? It's hard to imagine.
TedS
Guest
Spot on. Great point.
TedS
Guest
Totally agree with you here. Clarke may have more to do with team selection for the India tour than Arthur.
nickyc
Guest
Given that Australia and the UK both attract high levels of immigration there are bound to be examples of foreign born players in both teams. What surprises me is that Ahmed Fawad can just walk-in to the Aussie team once he gains citizenship, while in England he would first have to serve a seven year qualification period before being selected.
Robert
Guest
Absolute rubbish, the team that finishes first deserves, both home field advantage and the right of a draw. They have rightly finished first on the table over a long tough season, if the team finishing second isn't good enough to win it outright, then they don't deserve it. Look at the NZ test match, how exciting was that draw? This is the biggest problem/reason why Aussie cricket is in the s$&@ right now, everyone wants the easy way out, a quick decision, or a "leg up" nobody wants to work hard or fight hard for a result! If you want to win the shield and you finish second, go and win it! You know what might happen, we might just develop some cicketers with a winning mentality who don't give up when it's tough and nobody handed them anything!
Praveen
Guest
Spot on Amith
Praveen
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Amla talked up khawaja in the last tour to SA, talented batsman can see the potential in other younger batsman
Praveen
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+1 Bearfax
Praveen
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Agree with bearfax, khawaja has no attitude issues, he works hard and did do for the bills which is why he is in the Aus squad, can't wait to see him fire the ashes
Praveen
Guest
Khawaja, Symmonds and Sandhu are products of our system, they are as much Aussie as you and me