Australia must end their ODI slump, and quickly

Australia’s shambolic ODI tour of South Africa continued last night as they made 167 on a blameless pitch.

What made this capitulation even more embarrassing is that it came against a second-string Proteas attack lacking Dale Steyn, Kagiso Rabada, Morne Morkel and Imran Tahir. (Click to Tweet)

Australia were reduced to 5-49 by quicks Kyle Abbott and Dwaine Pretorius and chinaman bowler Tabraiz Shamsi. While Abbott has significant experience in international cricket, Pretorious and Shamsi both were playing in only their second ODIs.

There was no such lack of experience in the batting line-up they chopped through. Of Australia’s top seven, only Travis Head is a newcomer. The remaining six players are first-choice members of the number-one ranked Australian side.

Setting aside their badly-undermanned pace attack in this series, Australia have not performed anything like the best ODI side in the world. The reigning world champions have looked flat.

With the Champions Trophy coming up in the first half of next year, Australia need to settle on their core 13 to 14 ODI players soon and stick with them over the summer, injuries permitting.

The side’s much-maligned rotation policy may be a reason why they’ve been such a fearsome ODI side for so many years. It has helped them build depth so, when key players have been absent, other cricketers have been able to fill the breach with confidence.

But just eight months out from a major ODI tournament Australia needs to work on finding the right mix of players and allow them time to jell and build momentum as a unit.

Despite their struggles in South Africa, Australia are, arguably, still favourites for the Champions Trophy. This is due to their number one ranking and extraordinarily dominant record in 50-over tournaments, having won four of the last five World Cups and two of the past three Champions Trophies.

But they will face robust competition from the other three semi-finalists from last year’s World Cup – South Africa, India and New Zealand. That trio of teams have been elite ODI outfits for several years now. Together with Australia, they shape as the sides most likely to take home the trophy.

We know South Africa have a commanding attack and match-winning batsmen in AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla and Quentin de Kock. What they’ve also displayed in dismantling Australia is much-improved depth. They have steamrolled the Aussies in this series with either little or no input from key players de Villiers, Morkel, Steyn, Rabada and Tahir.

Admittedly, the Proteas have a record at limited overs tournaments which is as wretched as Australia’s is glorious. But they will break that hoodoo at some point and when they do, the silverware floodgates may well open.

New Zealand, meanwhile, have a wonderfully well-balanced side with a nice mix of stroke makers, proven all-rounders, quality quicks and fast-improving spinners in Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi.

India are the reigning Champions Trophy winners. They have a sensational batting line-up, an enviable spin battery and a world-class paceman in Mohammed Shami, who dominated at the World Cup.

The hosts England are a dark horse, thanks to their dynamic batting line-up and home advantage. Ranked fifth in ODIs, they have improved significantly since their humiliating showing at the World Cup, which capped off many years of underperforming in that format.

They are, however, heavily reliant on their batting because of the vulnerability of their attack. Not one England bowler could squeeze their way into the first-choice Australian ODI attack (Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, James Faulkner and Adam Zampa and Mitchell Marsh).

With an ODI average of 29, Steven Finn is the only regular member of England’s bowling group with a career average of under 30. Mark Wood (average of 48), Chris Woakes (34), Liam Plunkett (34), Moeen Ali (43), Ben Stokes (39), Adil Rashid (38), and David Willey (32) all have ODI bowling records which range from ordinary to awful.

Yet that lot are still better than the new bowlers Australia have fielded in this ongoing series in South Africa. Australia have enviable depth in their pace ranks, but they’ve still been exposed against the Proteas due to the unavailability of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, James Faulkner, Pat Cummins, James Pattinson, Joel Paris and Jason Behrendorff, each of whom is either rested, injured or fresh back from injury.

Australia will need at least four of those guys to be fit and ready for the Champions Trophy if they are to be strong chances to regain that title. For now, they need to be at least competitive in the final match in South Africa and then shrug this dreadful series off and regain their winning ways on home soil.