Blunderous – one word sums up Australia’s loss to New Zealand in their World Twenty20 opener. From selections to tactics and batting, the Australians made more missteps than a novice dancer.
Sometimes we look for excuses or distractions when a team loses, and in the process do not afford due respect to their conquerors. New Zealand are a fine T20 side, as they showed in besting tournament favourites India this week.
But it wasn’t only amid the harsh reflections of defeat that Australian fans began to note the side’s gaffes. Even when they were still a strong chance of winning the match with a few overs remaining, the litany of errors was being catalogued online.
At that point, it appeared that a victory would be a stroke of fortune for Australia, a success in spite of themselves. Then, inexplicably, with the game still there for the taking, captain Steve Smith decided to send in Ashton Agar ahead of Australia’s renowned finisher James Faulkner.
It was a gobsmacking error, one which left the TV commentators momentarily tongue-tied as they realised it was the West Australian spinner not the Tasmanian Devil coming to the crease.
Australia were 5-100 and, as badly as they had batted, they required only 42 from 29 balls. It is in these sorts of situations which Faulkner specialises, allying a cold-blooded temperament with forceful, daring strokeplay.
But, no, sent to the crease instead was a rookie whose confidence had been destroyed via a single rank over which had cost 18 runs. A rookie whose languid batting is increasingly effective in long form cricket but lacks the power for T20s. A rookie who had a minuscule amount of experience in such situations in comparison to Faulkner.
Yes, Agar made 98 on Test debut. Yes, he has two Sheffield Shield tons to his name this summer. But his resume as a limited overs batsman is threadbare, while Faulkner’s is brimming with achievements and accolades.
In his 50 List A and T20 matches, Agar averages 18 with the bat.
The free-wheeling nature of his Test 98 gave the impression of a strokemaker suited to the shortest forms. It convinced Justin Langer to give Agar several chances in the top order for the Perth Scorchers. But anyone who has watched him closely in T20s realises that, at this stage, he is largely ineffective with the bat.
He had been selected in Australia’s squad ahead of specialist spinner Cameron Boyce. Despite the fact the Queensland leg-spinner was extremely impressive in the 3-0 T20 series defeat against India, the selectors decided to dump him for Agar.
If Agar’s batting has failed to translate to T20s then the same must be said of his bowling. From 27 T20 matches he has taken a paltry 12 wickets at an average of 32. Compare that to the international record of Boyce, who has eight wickets at 19 from seven T20Is.
In bizarrely overlooking Boyce for Agar, the selectors argued lamely that they couldn’t pick two leg spinners in the squad. Yet, for a tournament being played on slow, turning Indian decks, they saw no issue in selecting five right-arm pacemen – Josh Hazlewood, John Hastings, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Shane Watson and Mitch Marsh.
In the last World T20, hosted on dusty decks in Bangladesh, it was unanimously agreed that Australia’s biggest mistake was relying on pace in spin friendly conditions. Yet here they were picking six pace options in their squad, and only one spinner with any T20 credentials in Adam Zampa.
The South Australian leggie was the focus of a baffling tactical decision by Smith against New Zealand. When Zampa was brought on to bowl, New Zealand’s two best T20 batsmen Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson were running rampant. At 0-58, New Zealand looked set for a gigantic total.
Intelligently using the full width of the crease, Zampa cramped Guptill and Williamson for room and created some hereto absent pressure, conceding just three runs off the over. As so often happens after a group of dot balls, the batting side looks to up the ante and a wicket is earned.
So it was as the first ball after Zampa’s over saw Guptill try to launch a Faulkner delivery over the boundary only to offer up a catch. Faulkner’s over went for just four runs and suddenly the Aussies had pulled things back thanks, in a large part, to the skiddy spin of Zampa.
Yet, somehow, that was the last we saw of him for the day. As Smith followed a seemingly pre-meditated strategy of rotating his bowlers at all costs, Zampa was sidelined.
This strategy was every bit as inexplicable as the promotion of Agar ahead of Faulkner. It was every bit as bewildering as the decision to cancel Boyce from the squad in favour of Agar. It was every bit as maddening as the omission from the team of former captain and T20 run machine Aaron Finch so Australia could field seven bowling options, and use two of their specialist bowlers for just one over each.
In the lead-up to this tournament, I wrote that I feared Australia were planning to play four all-rounders in their top seven, leaving them light on for batting and with an unnecessary abundance of bowlers. How many bowlers do you need in a 20-over match?
The reality is that Australia could field 11 all-rounders right now and still not have a good attack – their pace stocks lack bite and their spin unit is wildly inexperienced.
That’s why I urged them, pre-tournament, to actually play to their strengths – their batting has serious talent, power and depth. With David Warner at four, Australia easily can accommodate all of Finch, Watson and Usman Khawaja in their top three, with Smith at four to offer a steady counterpoint to the ballistics launched by Warner before him and Glenn Maxwell after.
It’s no surprise that Australia lost to the Kiwis. When you’re playing a quality side, you can’t afford to mess up selections, implement poor strategies and bat like club cricketers.
Blunderous.
Phantom
Roar Rookie
A word I would have thought was more appropriate. Outplayed.
Chinmusick
Roar Rookie
Early this summer, one of the channel nine commentators opined that he thought smith was a fast bowling captain. As opposed to Clarke who would always turn to his spinners early. I think he has full confidence in Lyon (As he should) but his only weakness that I can see so far, as a captain, is that he is too stubborn and puts on the blinkers when it comes to having to change tactics. Also his dismissal was a shocker, I'm really surprised at his ego in that attempted innings. He is so much more effective and fun to support when his mind isn't clouded by the power he has. He's Anakin Skywalker...
Lara
Guest
Yep , totally inept....Dumb beyond belief.
TC123
Guest
Would it be cricket if Australia win the tournament?
VivGilchrist
Guest
He said "cricket" not "T20".
Praveen
Guest
Wow well put Ross
Ross Fleming
Roar Rookie
Perry all good points and i have nothing against finch, but at this moment we can't fit him in. Warner is our best ODI and T20 batsman, Finch was our best T20 batsman a few years back but he doesn't have that form or class at present. Secondy he has a serious issue against spin bowling which is why so many IPL clubs have dropped him, IPL clubs don't drop a player if they are number 1 in this format, now Kohli is perhaps the true number 1 in this format. And really the guy they picked(khawaja) on friday for Finch was by far our best batsman and he looked world class, had he not got run out i think you might have seen a match winning knock. Only way you can get him in is take a allrounder out which i am ok with but you can't bring him in for any of the current top 4 as watson is needed for his bowling, khawaja was our clear standout batsman in the last game and hit more fours then everyone else combined, smith is our captain and warner overall is our best batsman in this format I do respect your views though
Don Freo
Guest
You don't base it on rankings. You base it on winning everything...including World Cups. ICC rankings mean nothing because the form line goes back too far into the past. Just look at cricket and make a judgement. Finch is not in the world's best 20 batsmen.
Perry Bridge
Guest
Finch deserves to be in because of: A. he's our best short form (ODI and T20i) opening batsman. B. he's scored 3 50s from 5 T20i knocks previously in India and Bangladesh C. he's world #1 ranked batter in T20i D. he was our best batter when he injured himself and on his return in the 'trial games' he's had a 40, a failure and a 30 odd. Enough to suggest he was ready to go. E. his spin is probably more worthy than that of Agar at present. F. NZ would've lost without Guptill. While Kawaja stroked some nice 4s and looked good at the other end Watson was at sea. Finch is our best regular 6 hitter at the top of the order. G. Avg of 40 and S/R of 150. That's not competing for a spot with all rounders. H. the pitch was so slow that spinners alone weren't the issue although Smith made them look better than warranted. Finch is the powerplay specialist. That's clear. We actually lost the power play comparison by 8 runs. We can simply blame Smith for bowling Agar. But we can also ponder why we dropped a gun T20i powerplay opener in Finch. (who replaced him? Kawaja or Watson?)
Ross Fleming
Roar Rookie
Lets be fair, smith is our best player of spin and the Indians got out the same way only a few days back and most would agree that they are world best at playing spin.
Ross Fleming
Roar Rookie
Khawaja's cover drives, his midwicket flicks, his cut, his pull, all had a beauty defying the pragmatism of the format. In a telling number, Usman Khawaja struck six boundaries, and only one looked remotely risky.His ten teammates hit four between them.It says a lot about priorities and shows that guys need to learn from how khawaja batted
Ross Fleming
Roar Rookie
I like finch in T20, he is not a very good shield or test player due to lack of technique but he can hit in this format, but spin remains his achiles heal
Ross Fleming
Roar Rookie
Best coach is a understatement, Arthur left the team culture destroyed and team divided and Boof was the only man who could bring the team together which he has done. Guys like warner, khawaja, Strarc, Lyon are world beaters because of boof.
Ross Fleming
Roar Rookie
Annoyedofit your ranting on khawaja is getting old, i am not a fan of the one way traffic some of his fans put forward, but he has no issues with his running, the fielding on friday that got him out was top notch and he was our only batter who batted well and sensibily, how about giving his due credit
Ross Fleming
Roar Rookie
I think we are being a bit harsh on the team. We just lost one game that too a close one and suddenly then become worst team in the world. Other team no matter how inconsistent they are starts becoming favorites, I mean common guys, we all saw what kind of pitch it was, toss probably turned out to be decisive and everyone blames Aussie selectors. It is sad that now only either of Aus or Ind will go through the semis, but mocking us for one bad performance is plane rubbish. We have a solid captain in smith, warner and khawaja are in great form, zampa a very good spinner and we are packed with talented allroudners. We can still win the WC
Ross Fleming
Roar Rookie
Nothing wrong with team coach, management or selectors as these are the same people who have got the team culture needed to be number 1 in the other two formats. Boof and Waugh are just the guys we want there. I mean in all honesty they picked khawaja in the first game when i wouldn't have and he was our best player so these guys often dont get the credit due. The big problem with Australia is they don't have settle team in t20 cricket they settle their odi and test team but when they play t20,they always rest key players pick new players they don't settle. Considering the target was well within our reach we somehow seemed very uncomfortable especially Maxwell, its as if he forgot to bring his skills to the pitch. Very unusual and uncharacteristic performance from us. If this is the way (self inflicted psychological pressure of playing on spinning tracks) they are going to play I highly doubt they will fare any better against the remaining teams in the group but i have confidence in boof and smith to get us there.
Ross Fleming
Roar Rookie
Amith admire your words, but keep in mind that for most aussies test cricket is the pinancle, but in saying that I for one would love to have one T20 WC under our belt
Ross Fleming
Roar Rookie
Sodhi is ony 22, wow he is a good talent simillar to Zampa and boyce
Ross Fleming
Roar Rookie
Lets be realistic, finch deserves to be in perhaps for one of the allroudners but he would have struggled against NZ spin as spin is not his forte. Khawaja is just a superior player in all formats and i am glad he is opening as he by himself hit more boundaries then all other players combined on friday. And Finch wouldn't do any better as captain so best to leave smith as captain in all formats. I do admit that Australia miss the steadying hand of Bailey coming in at 4 or 5 but bailey retired on his own terms. NZ made the right horses for courses choices in this ground by omitting Boult and Southee [usually unthinkable]and picking Mc Cleneghan and slow bowlers.
Ross Fleming
Roar Rookie
After Agar got hit for 18 runs somehow the allrounders repaired the damage to bowl out NZ for 142 runs. After a splendid start by Khawaja and Watson captain Smith walked in at number 3 only to dance down the wicket and be stumped for 6 runs which proved to be the beginning of the end for Australia while the run out of Khawaja put the icing on the cake. The idea to send Agar before Faulkner the best allrounder in world cricket with only 43 runs needed in 30 balls with 5 wickets in hand proved to be the final nail in the coffin. I am a fan of smith and i do believe he is the right man for the job in this format and we should see us come out very strong for the next few games. I didn't think khawaja should open but he proved in game 1 he belongs at this level so for me the top 6 is khawja, watson, smith, warner, maxwell, marsh with hazelwood to replace agar for tonight