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Since being named Australian coach, Justin Langer has cut an upbeat figure that belied the chaos going on behind him. He’s delivered the right sound bites and displayed a buoyant frame of mind – a fresh page following the ugliest of chapters.
Among the discourse is that the Australian public needed to respect and ‘love’ the team again. Sledging remains, but it’s ‘banter’ rather than abuse. Every player will know where ‘the line’ is, and personality trumped all else.
“It does not matter how many runs you score,” Langer has said. “If you are not a good bloke, that is what people remember.”
But in amongst all the rhetoric, there was still some cricket to be played. And the cricket played overnight revealed a team that is mentally limp, bereft of depth, and almost certainly headed for an early exit at next year’s World Cup.
England’s 242-run win at Trent Bridge is, to Australian cricket, both utterly shocking yet unsurprising. Their total of 6/481 – the highest ever in ODI cricket – smashes the 3/444 they set at the same ground two years ago against Pakistan.
In fact, England could and should have beaten the highest ever List A record of 4/496 set by Surrey in 2007, but failed to hit a boundary in the last 28 balls. The elusive 500 stays untouched, for now.
It is dire reading whichever way you look, and as the camera panned to Langer in the latter stages of England’s innings, the upbeat persona was gone. Head in hands, the performance was much more than yet another lost game and series.
The embarrassing mauling at Australian cricket’s graveyard in Nottingham has surely hit home that this job is significantly bigger than expected. Not particularly for Test and T20 cricket, forms of the game with potential short-term pain but long-term upside. But for ODI cricket, Australia is at its lowest ebb in decades. The side has lost 14 of its last 16 games and, less than a year out from the World Cup, won’t feature on anyone’s pre-tournament tips.
(Photo by Jono Searle – CA/Cricket Australia/Getty Images)
It’s a stunning fall from grace for a nation who has made the format its own since the turn of the century.
The contrast with England since the 2015 World Cup is stark. Bundled out by Bangladesh in the group stages, England completely shifted its ODI mentality to become far and away the best side in the world. Trevor Bayliss and Eoin Morgan’s positivity-at-all-costs mantra cost them some games early in the rebuild, but has developed into the blueprint for success that others are now trying to emulate.
Australia’s approach, on the other hand, has been naive at best and arrogant at worst. The side’s unwillingness to regenerate tactically and acknowledge a need to change has delivered their worst-ever run of results.
Steve Smith said last summer that Australia didn’t need to ‘copy’ England and would ‘develop our own style’. That style has delivered Groundhog Day performances each time they play: no cohesive bowling plans and a willingness to score at pedestrian pace during the power-play. It has also delivered a 4-1 loss to England at home and what’s set to be a 5-0 whitewash away.
England have shifted the goalposts in ODI cricket, and Australia remains intent on kicking towards the old ones.
Naturally, the suspension of Australia’s two best batsmen (Smith and David Warner) and injuries to the three best quicks (Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins) have made things difficult. But the ODI struggles are far deeper than issues with personnel. Even with those five in the squad for the series in January, Australia were blown away on home turf.
The good news is that Langer has been here before, albeit at domestic level. It’s well documented that the 47-year-old took over a West Australian side in 2012 that wasn’t fulfilling its potential. A talented squad, their old-school mantra of neglecting fitness and celebrating hard was quickly eradicated by Langer.
Culturally, his ‘no arseholes’ and ‘character over cover drives’ principles were successfully adopted, as was a focus on physical fitness to ensure performance under fatigue. And while the circumstances are different for this Australian side, his ability to turn around a squad is apparent.
If it wasn’t abundantly clear before this series, it must be now: Langer’s number one task in the 11 months leading up to the 2019 World Cup is to completely overhaul Australia’s ODI setup. Scheduling won’t be an issue, with series against Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and India to come.
Whether he can regain Australia’s standing as an ODI force will be the toughest task on his growing list.