Australia’s cobbled-together ODI line-up may already be 2-0 down in their five-match series in England but they have not been blown away in the manner I expected.
It always shaped as a near-impossible task for Australia to win this series away from home against the world’s number one ODI team while missing six members of their starting XI.
A near full-strength Australian team was beaten 4-1 at home by England just a few months ago which made a 5-0 result look likely in this return series.
A whitewash still appears highly possible given the gulf in talent between the teams but Australian fans can at least be heartened by the manner in which their side has continued to challenge England from positions of weakness. In both matches, Australia have climbed out of deep holes.
At The Oval last Wednesday their bowlers were tasked with defending a measly 214 against a powerful batting line-up which has little trouble chasing 350. In Cardiff on Saturday, Australia looked absolutely gone at 4-110 chasing 343.
In either scenario, it would have been easy for Australia to subside to a humiliating defeat. Instead, they maintained their composure, grinded away and managed to make England sweat. This heavy labour enabled Australia to get into positions from where victory was a possibility.
In the first match, Australia were able to reduce England to 6-163, still needing 52 to win.
In the second, they were in an even stronger position at 6-293, needing 51 from 29 balls with Shaun Marsh (131no) and Tim Paine (13no) at the crease.
(AFP/Ian Macnicol)
The wickets of both those batsmen in the space of three balls killed off the chase. But it was quite remarkable that Australia had even been within reach of victory at that point after being 4-110, needing 233 from 29 overs.
At the Oval, it was inexperienced quicks Billy Stanlake (2-44), Michael Neser (2-46) and Andrew Tye (2-42) who kept the tourists in the match. On the weekend it was veteran batsman Marsh (131) and young bowling all-rounder Ashton Agar (46).
Agar’s main task in this Australian side is with the ball. But so far, the West Australian left-arm spinner has had no impact as a bowler, taking 0-28 from five overs in the first match followed by 0-52 from nine overs in the second ODI.
Agar is not a match-winning spinner, he doesn’t boast befuddling variety. Rather his role is to try to keep things tight and create pressure during the middle overs of the innings, and at Cardiff he did that quite well.
Agar went for just 37 runs from his final eight overs, at 4.6 runs per over, after giving up 15 from his first over when he was curiously asked to bowl just six overs into the innings with the field up and Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy on fire.
(Photo by MB Media/Getty Images)
Agar is a long way from proving that he is an international-standard 50-over spinner. But he needs to be given time to develop, having played just six ODIs spread across a period of three years.
If he is able to find his feet with the ball then he will greatly improve the balance of the Australian ODI line-up. A full strength Australian team could then boast a very potent 8/9/10 tail-end combination of Agar, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc.
It is the strength of England’s ODI tail which gives their top seven the confidence and liberty to take on the bowlers. Such freedom has been glaringly absent from Australia’s batting for at least two years now. That is in part due to the drop in batting form and regular absence of bowling all-rounder James Faulkner.
When Faulkner was making runs at eight, Australia were a much better balanced side and one which batted with a great deal more flair. He provided insurance down the order, freeing up batsmen to play their shots.
Looking ahead to next year’s World Cup, Australia will hope Agar can replicate this. He has batted very well in difficult circumstances in both matches of this series, making 40 at The Oval after arriving at 5-90, and then cracking 46 on Saturday when Australia were 5-164.
The one positive of so many key players being absent from the Australian line-up is that the team has nothing to lose and can experiment. Over the next six to seven months they should show faith in Agar.
If he begins to thrive, the side will be in a better position to compete at the World Cup. If he doesn’t they can fall back to the experienced Nathan Lyon to be their lead spinner at that tournament.
Of course, it was Agar’s batting partner in Marsh who was more deserving of praise.
The 34-year-old played a perfectly paced innings which likely would have guided Australia to victory had just one more member of the top six made a good score. Marsh has had a curious ODI career. He has never been a permanent member of the Australian side despite boasting a very good ODI record (2051 runs at 39) and a dominant record at domestic level (3673 runs at 46).
An accumulator more than a blaster, Marsh has been kept out of the team at various stages by fairly similar batsmen such as Steve Smith, Travis Head, George Bailey and Michael Clarke.
There’s little doubt that Marsh’s gentle pace of scoring has held him back.
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In the modern era of ODIs, when totals of 330-plus are commonplace, batsmen need to be comfortable scoring at a-run-a-ball or better. With a career ODI strike rate of 79, Marsh struggles to achieve this. Prior to yesterday, he had scored at a strike rate of 100 or better in only two of his previous 25 ODI innings.
But his ton in Cardiff, scored at a strike rate of 113, was probably the most fluent Marsh has looked in ODIs. He now has a fantastic opportunity to finally nail down his spot.
With Australia missing their two most capped ODI batsmen – Smith and Warner – for the next nine months, Marsh’s experience will be very appealing to the national selectors.
Bakkies
Roar Guru
From what I understand the Sri Lankan board is like Samoan Rugby it is run by the Government. The Government also has to approve selections before the team can tour. No wonder they have done so poorly in their rebuild.
Fox
Roar Guru
"but they have not been blown away in the manner I expected." Well I think that statement needs a rethinnk now - England nearly gets an insane 500 runs in ODI 3 for only 6 wickets - with some of the most dreadful bowling and outrageous batting in ODI history - and there are no positives in this game - Australia's attack was arguably the worst ODI bowling I have ever seen in a game - they had no clue how to stop the flow and some of the field placings were dumbfounding.
Stephen
Guest
Finch has nothing to complain about, he has had a good run and continues to play for aus, khawaja on the other hand can't even get in the squad despite being the best domestic one day and T20 player over the last few years. I would ideally open with marsh and khawaja because we need strong top order players in the top 3
Perry Bridge
Guest
Clearly none of us knows anything about this. I find it astounding when we look at the selectors decisions and really, seriously, can't justify what they have done (to screw over A.Finch yet again). It really looks like some people are never done any favours and - in a sense - are set up to fail. TO me, open with Finch, he should've been captain to start with. The selectors really seemed to get spooked and seem to have panicked with Paine the 'golden child' now.
Perry Bridge
Guest
Would love to see Finch back at the top of the order. It is so, so silly to push a guy out of the opening slot - who was peeling off 100s - to insert guys who aren't doing as well - only for the first guy to be far less effective down the order. Why do you fiddle with something that isn't broken...... ....and especially when the other opener (Warner) is 'absent' for 'other' reasons. Just goes to show we can't take these games seriously.
Justsaying
Guest
Glad to see Khawaja speak out on his omission, it’s ridiculous that the best domestic one day batsman in the last five years is sitting in Brisbane
Liam
Guest
Were I english, I'd be a mite concerned by their inability to stop opposition scoring at the moment. You're right that, were just one other member of the upper order to go on, we'd have been a fair chance at victory; this, after we've suspended our two best bats. That, to my mind, would be troubling for England, as while their batting is still going along the way they want it, their entire strategy is containment with the ball, and at the moment they're a bit shaky.
Stephen
Guest
Shameful not to have our best one day opener in the side, khawaja should be there
badmanners
Guest
I thought this post rang a bell with me Ronan, do you work sometimes part time as a model? The following has been copied and pasted from cricinfo, posted by "Mehreen R Khan" and just quietly I prefer her avatar to yours :-) " Also It will be fascinating to see how the Sri Lankans ball tampering issue plays out.The cricket community has been very muted in their reactions to Chandimal being charged despite being rabid towards the Australians over the past three months."
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Cheers cos1, there's no doubt that Australia have undervalued spin bowling in limited overs cricket for a long time now. The treatment of Zampa, most recently, was very shabby after he played some great cricket for them in T20s and ODIs. But I actually think Australia can do without a big wicket taking spinner due to the fact they have much greater pace strike power than every other side bar SA thanks to Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins (with guys like Stanlake and Tye also strong wicket taking options in reserve). Yes it would be great if Australia had a Rashid Khan or Imran Tahir match-winning spinner, but they would be very well served right now by a tight spinner who consistently creates pressure between overs 10 - 40. Agar and Lyon both have the potential to be such a bowler I think.
Savage
Roar Rookie
Correction-:Finch as an opener averages 38.32 with SR 90.01 currently.
Savage
Roar Rookie
It is not fair to Finch if he bats in middle order instead of his favourite Opening position.But Australia should also look for long term solution.Warner will also be back for 2019 WC and there will be at least 1 opener who will be forced to bat in middle order.Now the problem is Openers will find it difficult to bat in middle order but still feel Finch has easily the most Potential to succeed. 1) Finch as an ODI batsmen has underachieved.He averages 37.87 and his SR of 89.91 is also mediocre by his standard. Compared to his contemporaries opening batsmen(Average , SR)-: H Amla(50.70 , 89.19) , R Shama(53.80 , 91.10) , De Kock(45.41 , 93.80) ,Dhawan(45.90 , 93.44) and Guptill(44.96 , 87.26) Note-:This is stats of players AS AN OPENER ONLY. But the most relevant comparison for Finch is with Warner as they both play for same team,faced against same bowlers and in same conditions. Warner averages 43.22 with SR 96..21. But it is important to note that Warner was mediocre batsmen in the early part of his ODI career. Since 2015,Warner has scored 2783 runs @ 54.56 with SR 105.5 whereas FInch scored 1915 runs @ 39.08 with SR 92.15. 2) In T20s,Same Finch has comfortably outperformed all the others Openers in the world. He averages 40.20 with SR 151.69. 3) The reason for his Great performance in T20s could be because he gets to play less overs like he will if he bats in middle order for ODI Team. When Finch is fully set in ODIs he doesn't utilize like other openers do(Warner,Sharma,de Kock,Guptill) and rarely play exploding innings after that.The longer Finch stays at crease,the more he seems like struggling with bat.I think his fitness level is tested (which could be because he is not that used to playing Test format) and thus sometimes struggle to be aggressive after 20-25 overs. Also Finch hasn't scored 150+ in ODIs unlike many other openers but has scored 156 in a T20 match.
George
Guest
Khawaja's omission is a farce. If he was a simple boy from the Perth or Adelaide suburbs with few discernable interests or passions outside of cricket, even Roar gurus would be leading the media outcry.
cos1
Guest
Good article and some really good comments here. I agree with some of the sentiments - Paine appears to have picked to play as a captain (90's England style), as opposed to the captain being picked from the best 11. For me, Finch as captain, Carey as wicket keeper. Finch should open - that's where he has always been best, using his muscle to clear the restricted field. Agar has exceeded expectations and he has a future in Australian odi cricket, one would hope. The question is his the role he is capable of playing vs the role we need. Sometimes I am not sure if he is a bowling allrounder or a batting allrounder. England have spinners that can get wickets and put pressure on batsmen. They have at least one genuinely dangerous spinner, as do many teams. We don't, at the moment, have an attacking spin option. And while Agar is getting good runs, he doesn't seem to be a big hitter. He is batting like the player we need when we are 5 - 100/150. Will he be the batter we need when we are 5-200?
KenoathCarnt
Guest
The only posetive with all these players injured or banned is that it gives an opportunity to see who are best players are mainly the batsmen without our stars. Shaun Marsh to me has shown he is solid and definitely goes ahead of Head or others. I still definitely would have loved to see Khawaja given a shot he probly would be doing alot better then Short or Head the short form is where he shines IMO.
Stephen
Guest
Moin is a master spin bowler in his home conditions, in our conditions he wasn't good but at home and in one dayers he is very good. I like Agar and i was impressed with marsh but we can't get away from the fact that we are lacking solid top order options in this series which is even why its more mind blowing that khawaja is not there. One of 4 top order batsmen still available for Aus (only 2 if you exclude Smith and Warner) over the last 7 years that has an average over 40 at the most elite level - test cricket. The other that averages over 40 is Peter Handscomb - not in any starting 11 at the moment. The Oz selectors need to show faith and support for results. Get khawaja and handscombe in there
JayG
Guest
I suspect the rabid reactions will follow errors made by any player of India, Aus or England. Teams are too dominant as well as arrogant and have rivalries among themselves to attack each other's players. What was different (although understandable ) in the Aus case was the Aus fans turning against the team. This is rare - usually fans will rally behind their teams and buy whatever justification the team gives. I expect it to be no different in Chandimal's case. He will give an explanation and SL fans will believe and support him. Also, I would be very surprised if the SL cricket board took any action against them - they have too many problems of their own.
Stephen
Guest
Can't be a article without ronan either talking up finch, or one of his WA players or talking down khawaja lol. We are at a 34 year low, we are about to be white washed but somehow you can see positve from this. How about we address the main issue and thats our batting. Shaun marsh was fantastic and he showed the need to get more top order batsman in like khawaja who is not even in the squad. Have finch, khawaja, marsh as our top 3 and that would be the way to go
Broken-hearted Toy
Guest
They find it difficult to score against spin bowlers. Some of them can keep them out but not score fast against them. Any team would be wise to load up with spin bowlers against the Aussies in short format. It's a pretty reliable tactic. Once they have their eyes in, both Marsh men seem better against spin than some of the others but that's a low bar to set.
Broken-hearted Toy
Guest
Agree. He's probaly our most experienced player in the team, no point in stuffing him around in the order.