Australia have been whitewashed twice in a matter of months across two different formats. But only the debacle in Sri Lanka is of significant concern. There is no need to panic about the 5-0 ODI loss in South Africa.
The 3-0 loss in Sri Lanka exposed that, for all the success of Australia’s new young Test team home-and-away last summer, the fresh crop are as fragile in Asian conditions as those that went before them.
With a four-Test tour of India looming, the farce in Sri Lanka confirmed Australia are not close to being equipped to compete in that series.
It indicated that Australia are a long, long way from becoming a truly elite Test team capable of pushing their opponents no matter the conditions.
The same can’t be said of the whitewash in South Africa. That loss has not revealed that Australia are on the slide in ODIs. There is no need for panic whatsoever, despite the frenzied calls by many Aussie fans online to sack Steve Smith as captain.
Let’s take a long breath and consider the bigger picture. Despite losing 5-0, Australia still are the world’s number one ranked ODI side, a measure of just how huge a lead they had built up in those rankings.
They are the reigning World Cup champions, having won four of the past five editions of that tournament. They will enter the Champions Trophy in England in June as the winners of two of the past three editions of that tournament.
They arrived in South Africa fresh from a 6-1 result in the limited overs matches in Sri Lanka, even though those matches were played on the kind of sharp turning pitches which don’t suit Australia.
In the two years which preceded this series, Australia had an astounding 36-10 win-loss record in ODIs, well clear of the next-best performed side.
Does that sound like a team in decline? Of course it doesn’t. This isn’t to suggest the 5-0 result should be ignored. The key lesson to emerge from this series is that the Australian selectors cannot simply pick any random group of cricketers and still expect to win.
I’ve already detailed just how incredibly weak was the Australian pace attack picked in this series.
The moment the Australian squad was announced it was clear to me they were going to be hammered in this series. The selectors didn’t even seem interested in trying to avoid the 5-0 result when they picked the XI for the final match.
Instead of having its best possible team in the circumstances, Australia fielded what is undoubtedly their worst attack I have seen in any format in my lifetime. John Hastings was comfortably the most experienced quick in the Australian squad, with more wickets in 50-over cricket than the combined career hauls of Joe Mennie, Chris Tremain, Scott Boland and Daniel Worrall.
Since returning to the ODI side a year ago, Hastings had averaged 24 with the ball and 38 with the bat. Yet Australia decided to rest him for the last game against SA, robbing the side of both his bowling experience and his crucial lower order batting.
Not only did Hastings needless absence leave the Australian attack even thinner, it also meant they had a horrendously long tail – number eight Joe Mennie averages ten with the bat in 50-over cricket.
The non-selection of Hastings can only be read as a sign the selectors didn’t give a toss whether they went down 5-0.
If Australia continue to show such a lack of respect for their opponents with their ODI team selections then there will be more embarrassing tours such as this one.
Now, it must be said that Australia’s batting also wasn’t great – they put up two very poor totals in the five game series, to go with two solid scores and one brilliant return. But in David Warner, Aaron Finch, Steve Smith, George Bailey and Mitch Marsh they the guts of a batting line-up which has been very effective over the past two years.
Occasionally they will have an off series, like they did here. If Australia had their full strength attack with Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, James Faulkner and Glenn Maxwell they would have been able to cover, to some extent, for the average returns of their batting unit.
They still would have lost the series, I’d wager, but it is unlikely it would have been a blow out. In such a scenario we wouldn’t be seeing kneejerk reactions like the calls for Smith’s removal as captain.
For now, all Australia need to do is stay calm and pick the right ODI XI.
Amrit
Roar Guru
Steve Smith and the rest, apart from Warner would have their tasks cut out for them in the sub-continent
Rellum
Roar Guru
As always as the Mat BBQ One day Cup goes along the crowds slowly grow, because it is on TV and that builds interest. The crowd today is looking pretty good. Just think if CA promoted the comp and went back to a season long comp with key games on a free weekend day.
Amrit
Roar Guru
Smith cannot be entirely blamed, it was the selectors again- he had such poor bowling options that 371 got run down by the Proteas
Amrit
Roar Guru
Yeah Ronan they should not panic that's true, nevertheless they lost six rating points- that was easy relinquishment
Paul D
Roar Guru
I have to agree, Smith appears totally the wrong choice for this role. He's another Kim Hughes.
Ash
Guest
what an absolute disaster. this series has confirmed smith’s fallibility as batsman and captain. He should be sacked as OTI and T20 captain immediately. As we have seen in the last 2 ODI series’, Warner is easily the better batsman and easily the better captain to galvanise men.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
I actually think Warner can make some decent runs in India as long, that is, as the pitches are not as incredibly difficult for batting as they were when SA visited India. Warner batted exceptionally well against spin against Pakistan in the UAE and plays spin so well in the shorter formats. Granted he only averaged 27 in Sri Lanka but I felt he never looked overly uncomfortable against spin in that series, like several others did. Crucially, he doesn't fear spin, which is what cruelled the likes of Khawaja, Burns and Nevill.
Rellum
Roar Guru
Aus sees these games as trails for Test and future one day players. The selectors have stated they see international experience as more important than Shield performances.
Tanmoy kar
Guest
Australian selectors have taken S.A. tour Series lightly and experimented with the bowlers too much, hence this result. They could have done these trials against a weaker side like Sri Lanka. Just imagine if there had been A.B.Devilliers in their side what would had happened!
matth
Guest
Sad thing is, right now QLD are struggling in a one-dayer against a NSW attack including Hazlewood, Cummins, Bollinger and Lyon. They might have come in handy in SA.
matth
Guest
Dave, you started well, but you couldn't resist in the end. It was one series, we'll be right.
spruce moose
Guest
Sigh, Sadly the cynic in me is expecting some very generous pitches for batting being rolled out where someone like David Warner can pad out his already woefully unequal home v away average even further. I'm predicting that he'll hit 3 centuries this summer, and all will be forgotten. Until India of course. I wish I could have the optimism of others for a close series.
Pope Paul VII
Guest
Even a doorknob would have dropped Finch or Bailey for the last match.
Hewy
Guest
Absolute joke with that weak boring lineup that Andrew Tye wasn't selected. One of the best short form bowlers in the country and has all the variations that the current group don't have. Would have made a difference on those flat tracks.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
This shapes as the most fascinating Test summer in a long time - two really tantalising series. Let's hope we get some close Tests - we've had very, very few of those over the past 5-6 home summers.
Paul D
Roar Guru
I can't be bothered following overseas cricket tours anymore. India will be a farce next year.
Sideline
Guest
Honestly, the Sri Lanka fiasco was grim; I've struggled to follow cricket since, I took it that hard. I remember talking to a bunch of people on here who thought we would smash them, and I was being my normal cautious (read: pessimistic) self and warned against hubris. But honestly, I never really thought we would get hammered 3-0 against them, even in Sri Lanka. It just shows where we are, and that us beating NZ so emphatically in NZ was really a false dawn. But, back on the horse and all that. The two test series this summer I'm hoping will be good ones. SA in Australia is always a challenge, but they shouldn't get too excited by their destruction of our understrength ODI side: it will be a different team in a lot of ways that stroll out to the pitch in WA. If anything though, I'm more excited by the Pakistan series. I know India have taken the test crown, but if Pakistan beat Australia in Australia, I think they will prove they are the best team going around. And they could do it. Not even our usual pathetic pitch doctoring should stop them, as they have amazing quicks and great batsmen.
David a Pom
Guest
Australia is still a pretty good ODI outfit, no doubt, and it's the strongest format of the game for them given tracks globally are roads, which suits their strengths. Indeed Ronan is correct that losing to a very, very ordinary Sri Lankan side 3-0 is an embarrassment, and demonstrates the test team ought to be ranked at #7 on current form. England, India and Pakistan are well ahead of the competition in test cricket.