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.
Saurebh Gandle
Roar Guru
Not at all. It is the case where Australia is getting all tactics wrong .CA and Smith have to take blame for it.
Don Freo
Guest
Well, I've been trying to buy one after a hernia operation and you can't get them anywhere. I'm feeling that loss...of scrotal support.
doogs
Guest
what is a "crises"?
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
Well, I'll be gobsmacked Don. I agree although perhaps not about the contents of that canister. it needs to be something with stronger symbolism for what we have lost in this life and death one day series. Does jockstrap really convey that?
Perth Wicket
Roar Pro
Fair points, cos1. I think that Australia’s ODI woes can be attributed to experimenting with their line-up to come up with the right formula to beat England and win next year’s World Cup. Losing is inevitable during this trial and error process because of the lack of cohesion. Once they have settled on a team and strategy then we’ll have a better idea of where Australia stands relative to the other International sides
Perth Wicket
Roar Pro
Perth Wicket
Roar Pro
Let's hope that's the case! They're hot favourites at this stage but the World Cup is still 16 months away.
Liam
Guest
"Since the late 80’s, Australia has been the most dominant country in the format ODI's]" I notice you used the past tense, which was what I was highlighting with the part of my comment you objected to. We have been an incredible team over the past 20 or so years, but last world cup was a triumph of the last vestiges of MIchael Clarke/Ponting's Australia. You had Watson, Johnson, Clarke, Haddin in there, making runs and taking wickets. We had just gone through a series of unbelievable performances by Australia in the test arena, and then we had a world cup at home, which outside of the single match we played in New Zealand we dominated. Having said that, there is a trend, going back to 2011, of us losing ODI series to serious sides away; since then, we've beaten only England away, in 2013 (of the minnows, we've beaten Scotland once, Ireland twice, Afghanistan once, Pakistan twice, and Sri Lanka once; we've lost away series against India twice, New Zealand once, and South Africa once, over the same time period, with the latter result 5-0) We're a good side historically, and we are still a good team, but we are no longer the worldbeaters we once were. We are not the best in the world at the moment. England go fairly close right now, but we'll see how they go when they tour India next, but that's a tangent. As we are no longer the best in the world, what do the sides that aren't the best in the world do? They wind up losing away. As my first post specified, we have lost away 8 times, to India and New Zealand, with two called off and now three lost at home to the pacesetters in England. If we truly wanted to win this series, I really think we could've put up a better showing than we have. That we hadn't demonstrates that a) the team has its priorities in order; good of the English to show up after they've lost the Ashes; also good that the key players for the tests in South Africa are taking it easy, too, although if that's what they're doing I wish they'd get given a rest instead of playing halfheartedly b) that this series is literally meaningless to the Australian side of things, and c) we need to innovate to hit the next world cup running. England, for all their good performances here, observed the trends in ODI's that they weren't getting right and built their team accordingly; they're not ahead of the pack so much as they saw what everyone else was doing and strove to do it better. We're still playing the cricket that won the world cup, albeit with players of a lesser standard. Let's see what the admin/Australian team can do when they're actually trying to win before we get ready to hang them, hmm?
Jacko
Guest
Yes I cant believe how the media seems to be presenting it like that. Admittedly todays news is yesterdays chip wrapper but they are totally different formats and have many different players. Winning the Ashes is a totally seperate achievement to winning the ODI series.
Don Freo
Guest
It is funny how leading 3-0 in a One-Day series seems to be "satisfying" revenge for losing the Ashes. Maybe we should burn a jockstrap and put the remains in a little Tupperware canister.
Don Freo
Guest
What was or line up for the game we won? I'll bet it had West Aussies in it.
Bunney
Roar Rookie
Liam, do you seriously believe everything you've just said?? Its a mish-mash of sensible and nonsensical. Australia didn't simply win the last world cup because it was at home, we won it because we were number 1 in the world in that format too. The last two world cups have been won by the home team (Aus 2015 & Ind 2011) but not one of the other winners have been home (SL won in '96 after playing two group stage games in SL, but all the finals were played in Pakistan or India) In times past, we would win a fair percentage of the ODI games against Eng, NZ and India, no matter where they were played. Since the late 80's, Australia has been the most dominant country in the format. So you cannot simply write this off as losing because we're away from home. Your last comment about not panicking and trying a few things now is utterly sensible. I'm fairly certain Cam White is not the answer to any of our questions though.
Liam
Guest
A world cup, like a grand final, insulates a team from excessive criticism for a while. And if we seek to aim at winning the next one, now is indeed the time for experimentation. Also, you quote that oft used 12 games one win statistic. Since the 26/1/2017, Australia has been fixtured to play in 14 ODI's, with just the 4 of them at home. Over that time, we've played against India in India, we had the Champion's trophy, and we had a tour of New Zealand; we've played against three sides only during that period, India, New Zealand and England. England is the pace setter; India is the perpetual contender in ODI's; New Zealand are playing some spectacular cricket at the moment. If you had thought to do more than simply criticise or panic, you'd see that like test cricket, most teams except exceptional ones win at home, maybe pinching one away. We won the last world cup because it was at home, not because we were the best in the world; you can make arguments as to who is, but we aren't the clear best in the world we were in the past. If we want to try, and we know the players we've got are not adequate to that standard, what do you do? You experiment, play around with structures, different bowling lineups, tactics, batting orders. You see what works, and you don't overreact.
Ouch
Guest
:) Par for the course
cos1
Guest
sorry 3-0.
cos1
Guest
12 games, all but one lost. This is the worst performance of any Australian team in the history of ODI cricket. Worse than the disastrous, still maligned ironic all-star teams of the mid 80's. It has been absolutely miserable for keen fans who have had the fortitude to keep watching. Their numbers will be dwindling. England had this thing during the ashes about talking themselves up as they were getting thrashed. They were even saying they were the stronger team when the scoreboard said 3-1. Well, 12 games one win says 'crises' in large, pink, underlined, bold and italicised letters. That is what most people will see until they win another ODI game. Until that time comes, I am not sure how the team's woes can possibly be overrated.
jameswm
Guest
England are peaking between World Cups - is that you're saying?