Steven Smith was left scratching his head after his side went down, comfortably, to the English at the Gabba.
The Australians got themselves into a solid position with eleven overs to go. They had more than 200 on the board with seven wickets to spare. But instead of capitalising, they collapsed and Eoin Morgan and his confident side cantered home.
Then, another loss, this one at the SCG last night, although it was a closer contest.
But let’s look back to the Gabba. The Australian side that took to the field on Friday was unbalanced and wasteful-looking. In-form wicketkeeper-batsman Alex Carey has been opening the batting for the Adelaide Strikers – and plundered a hundred in his last innings. Yet he found himself batting at eight. The powerful hitters in Marcus Stoinis and Cameron White found themselves well down the order too.
The bowling line-up looked light. Of particular concern was the lack of a specialist spinner with Adam Zampa out of favour and out of the side. This is in contrast to England who leaned heavily on three spinners – to great effect – in Adil Rashid, Moeen Ali and Joe Root.
And so the criticism rolled in. Australia should try to emulate the English. Or they should play their own style. Glenn Maxwell needs to come back into the side. And Nathan Lyon too.
The people are right. Australia needs to try different things. Though that’s exactly what they’re doing. Things aren’t coming off at the moment. But their failure has less to do with team structure and more to do with momentum.
Australia and England find themselves on opposite ends of the form line. Australia have managed only one win from its last eleven while England are purring along. They’ve lost only 15 times out of their last 56 matches and boast the best winning record since the 2015 World Cup.
Many key players have failed to fire too – particularly the middle-order. Only Aaron Finch and Mitchell Marsh have made notable contributions in all three matches this series. How differently would the three games have panned out had Smith and co. found their one-day rhythm?
Australia’s experimentation isn’t ideal. There’s little opportunity for players to settle and for team chemistry to develop. But selectors are seeking the right recipe to combat the pacesetters in England. Now is the right now to chop and change before next year’s World Cup.
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