There’s no doubt Darren Lehmann is the inspiration behind Australia’s Test revival.
He felt his way in his debut as Australian coach during the five Ashes Tests in England, for a 3-0 loss.
But “Boof” is no boofhead when it comes to correcting wrongs.
The 5-0 shellacking of England in the return Ashes campaign was as comprehensive as it was staggeringly unbelievable.
And the momentum has carried over to Centurion, where the baggy greens have South Africa by the throat after two days.
But don’t get too carried away, there are still batting problems despite the overwhelming results.
Australia can’t keep relying on the middle order, and the tail, to get them out of gaol.
The top order is brittle, and until Australia can select a stable 1 – 2 – 3 who can be consistent, papering over the cracks by winning won’t hide the problems.
There have been 11 digs since the baggy greens stepped up to the plate, but in 10 of those 11 digs, the openers Chris Rogers and David Warner have only posted one century partnership.
Just one in 11! That being the second innings of the third Ashes Test at the WACA when the two lefties put on 157.
To compound the problem, Rogers and Warner have only managed two 50-plus stands – 67 in the Gabba second dig, and 64 in the MCG second dig.
The other eight opening partnerships were broken early.
The next best was a 34 in Adelaide, two in the 20s, then 19, 15, 13, 12, and 4.
On those facts, it would appear Australia has a habit of falling behind the eight-ball almost every dig.
And it doesn’t get much better for the second wicket, where eight of the 11 partnerships haven’t reached three figures in team total.
Nor the third wicket, where six of the 11 haven’t reached 100 in total.
That 1 – 2 – 3 hole in the batting order must be “Boof’s” prime objective to fill.
Alex Doolan looks a likely 3 contender; David Warner is one of the most exciting batsmen in world cricket, but there’s a long time between drinks; Chris Rogers is a far better proposition than Ed Cowan, but still not consistent enough.
Your move, “Boof”.
Jack Smith
Roar Guru
That's right. Almost every test he does ply in there is an injury scare or discussion about it. At 32 he has not bloomed and I for one am sick and tired of him.
Simon85
Guest
Agree 100% and the only time he makes any runs is when the pressure is off, but for some reason his just rated as the saviour of the team. Get rid of him, how much time does he really have left with all these injuries, more trouble then he is worth.
Jack Smith
Roar Guru
Too true :p Hence why I reckon 'Watto's gotta go'. Title of my article I have sent in not yet published. Look for it throughout the day.
Robbo
Guest
Mind you there always questions over Watto's fitness! :)
Robbo
Guest
There are ALWAYS questions over the fitness of Ryan Harris, his knee is a day to day proposition!
Rob JM
Guest
The only reason to include Watto for the next test is if there are questions over the fitness of the bowlers. Otherwise why do you need a back up bowler when your team has no problem at the moment dismissing the opposition. His batting form certainly doesn't warrant an automatic selection. Certainly unlucky for Watto but there is a saying that you never want to miss a game as your replacement might perform. Watto is the weakest batsmen from the line up at the moment, especially when you consider when he got his runs.
Jack Smith
Roar Guru
Who needs Watto? Seriously I for one, an old defender of him, am over him. He gets injured more than he plays and we wrap him up in cotton wool .Smith can take on more of a bowling role now that he has proven his batting is top-class and Faulkner when fit can replace Watson as our all-rounder.
Jack Smith
Roar Guru
Agree with Rogers statement. The man himself has said (Rogers) if he doesn't perform he is in trouble. Rightly or wrongly, if he doesn't get many runs in this series he may get dropped.
Broken-hearted Toy
Guest
If Watson is fit, who is selected for the next test? If Doolan was the next pick, it should be him, but Marsh's ton and his second innings batting has looked very solid.
Mickyt
Guest
Fantastic analysis. Interesting to see what the solution boof comes up with. The current structure of shield cricket needs to be conducive to when tests are close by. Hughes shield record is the pick. Is his technique to blame or selectors messing in the head space. Neil Harvey spoke of his flawed technique. Can't argue with that. Doolan seems he has the technique. Mentally time will tell.
Mango Jack
Guest
Having an aggressive / conservative opening combination can work. Think Hayden/Langer. Like a right/left combo, they can make it hard for the bowler to settle into a rhythm. They key is that they work together and know each other's game, just as the aforementioned did. I don't get the feeling Warner and Rodgers have that understanding. Yet.
Christo the Daddyo
Guest
I would ne interested to hear an honest answer from Hughes as to what his preferred position actually is. He's been tried in just about every slot so far. I never really thought there should be too much difference between an opener and No. 3. So I was surprised to see Doolan picked in that position over Hughes.
Christian D'Aloia
Roar Guru
Hughes is an opening batsman right? So I'd be giving him Chris Rogers' spot when he retires or his form drops too much.
Christo the Daddyo
Guest
Apart from Hughes of course. And even top scoring in the warm-up game wasn't enough to get him a gig.
abigail
Guest
One thing that the success against England and good start against South Africa has bought us is time. Everyone, including Rogers himself knows that his time in test cricket will be limited. But his success has brought stability to the team, a couple of fine centuries against England and time for the likes of Silk and Maddison to mature. Time to see if Phil Hughes really has fixed enough of his technique to get another chance. Time for someone else to stand up and demand selection. One thing for certain is that all Shield cricketers would consider themselves a chance to be picked, regardless of age under the new coaching and selection regime. You would need a crystal ball to predict the Australian batting line up two years down the track. Plus Lehman and the selectors appear to be selecting players that they think will succeed against certain types of bowling. One of the rationales for Marsh's selection was his ability against pace bowling. But perhaps an entirely different sort of player may have been selected if we were playing against Pakistan or India.
NORDBURG
Guest
This is an interesting point of discussion.Whilst we have been 4 or 5 down for not many recently alot,its not like individual players are letting the team down.Rogers,before this test,was coming off consecutive hundreds.Warner scored plenty in the Ashes series,Marsh just scored a ton,Doolan is likely,or hopefully,gets a few tests to prove himself.Meaning the bloke under the most pressure,if things need to change,is Clarke.Not everybody is going to score big in one innings,as long as someone does and thats whats been happening -- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.
Matthew
Guest
If we can see it I am sure Boof can see it. Its one thing seeing it another thing fixing it. Nobody at Shield level is really standing up and demanding a test spot.
Felix
Guest
Spot on, David. It's amazing how a series win takes the spotlight off systemic issues in the team, you only need to look at England and the widely reported issues that we later found out were simmering away in their squad which boiled over when the pressure of an Ashes series was applied. Warner is a good batsman, I don't deny it, but I think he'd be a great number 6, especially if we had a more conventional opener. His returns are far too sporadic, sure he'll blast a white-ball style ton every now and then but he doesn't get enough scores in the 20-50 brackets to make his swashbuckling style a long term solution in my opinion.