Power hitting may be the sexiest aspect of T20 cricket but it was Australia’s inability to gather singles which cruelled them as they lost 3-0 against Pakistan over the past week.
Australia last night were in a strong position batting second after wicketkeeper Alex Carey, promoted to open the batting, slammed 20 runs from the opening over off star Pakistan spinner Imad Wasim.
With ten wickets in hand, Australia then needed only to score at 6.9 runs per over for the following 19 overs to chase down the target of 151. That is not a difficult task if a team collects plenty of singles and twos, and makes the most of the odd loose delivery.
Instead, they neglected to work the gaps, allowed pressure to build from dot balls and then sought a release by trying to manufacture a boundary.
Quite remarkably, dots accounted for about half the balls faced by each of Carey (5 dots from 9 balls), Chris Lynn (6 dots from 13), Ben McDermott (11 dots from 20), Mitchell Marsh (11 dots from 24), D’Arcy Short (8 dots from 15) and Glenn Maxwell (4 dots from 8).
(Giuseppe Cacace/AFP)
Australia ended up with a whopping 59 dots – which was 51 per cent of all balls they faced – as they were bowled out for 117. By comparison, Pakistan only allowed dots from 38 per cent of the deliveries they faced and even then, the Pakistani TV commentators were highly critical of this aspect of the home side’s batting.
It was the same story across the whole series. In the first match, Pakistan’s dot ball percentage was only 31 per cent compared to an incredible 58 for Australia, and in the second match, Pakistan again went at 31 per cent versus 50 per cent for Australia.
Across the whole series, Australia faced on average 20 more dots per innings than Pakistan.
It is now clear that while on the flatter pitches in places like Australia and England the Aussies can load up on power hitters, on slower decks they need at least one more conventional batsman tasked with steering the innings.
Going forward, that man looks most likely to be Steve Smith. Despite underperforming in T20Is so far, the banned skipper has played that anchor role extremely well in the Indian Premier League, where he has scored 1703 runs at 36.
Aside from Australia’s lack of an accumulator-style batsman, this series has also cast further doubts over the suitability of Chris Lynn and D’Arcy Short for limited overs cricket in Asia. Both batsmen are famously potent against pace but are comparatively impotent against the slow men. Neither batsman appeared to have a clear plan as to how to either get off strike or score boundaries against spin in this series.
(Giuseppe Cacace/AFP/Getty Images)
Short deserves a bit more patience given he has overall made a good start to his T20 career in the green and gold, with 461 runs at 38.
Lynn, however, is yet to take a bite out of international cricket. After 14 T20 internationals the Queensland blaster has made just 214 runs at 19, with a slow strike rate of 127 – well below his scorching rate of 146 at lower levels.
On several occasions, it has appeared as though his inability to get off strike against spinners has muddled Lynn’s mind. When then he finally faces his favoured style – pace bowling – he seems too eager to make up for lost time, attempting to thrash deliveries which aren’t there to be hit.
Ben McDermott, meanwhile, is a wonderfully talented young player but has absolutely butchered the gilded opportunity he was handed in this series. Somehow, the 23-year-old has managed to get himself run out three times in four innings. And all three were his fault.
The first two saw McDermott whack the ball to an offside fielder, set off for a kamikaze run and be caught short. Last night he attempted to do the same thing but was sent back by Maxwell, who called “no” repeatedly from the moment McDermott hit the ball.
It is a gobsmacking series of errors for a rookie to commit in their first international tour. Hopefully, McDermott will learn.
The same goes for Australia, who simply must address their one-note approach to T20 batting.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
Christian?
KenoathCarnt
Roar Rookie
Whoops forgot to add Tye
KenoathCarnt
Roar Rookie
Preferred lineup with banned players. Finch Khawaja Lynn Maxwell Mcdermott (wk) Turner Marsh/Christian Agar NCN Stanlake Lyon/Zampa/Ahmed Alot to like in this lineup including batting depth with great bowling variation which is vital in T20. I'm not a big Mitch Marsh fan but he has been solid in T20's. The power play is absolutley vital in T20 and Khawaja is o so consistent and was out best batsmen in the T20 world cup and would ensure a great start to the innings. McDermott is a good enough to be a lone batsmen so make him the wk he is just unfortunate with the run outs.
Simoc
Guest
Unless you're referring to the Afghani Rashid Khan who would have to be the most valuable T20 player on the planet. He was the star of the last IPL.
Simoc
Guest
Since Rashid is a Pom, he's not likely to be of much help to us.
JamesH
Roar Guru
What's even weirder is that he didn't have a reputation for being a poor runner prior to this series. I hope he can shake it off and move on. On the plus side, he's actually looked good once he's survived a few deliveries. He was 21 from 18 with two 4s and a 6 prior to that last runout.
Kopa Shamsu
Guest
Bingo,Bulls eye Brian
anon
Roar Pro
The Aussie batsmen didn't try this morning. Couldn't give a stuff about the result. Just had to push the ball around for 7 an over and they would have cruised home. Threw their wickets away. They have quickly become the Wallabies of world cricket.
Nick
Roar Guru
Don't be too harsh on Brian for not knowing Shadab - he's another unknown victim of Channel 9's absurdly insular commentary. The type of person who rags on Mark Nicholas for having wider knowledge of cricket (re: being foreign) and applauds buffoons like Healy who routinely demonstrates a lack of basic knowledge of the other XI players on the ground. Here's hoping Channel 7 bring a bit of international discourse to the commentary.
Trevor
Guest
With the exception of Steve Smith (he of the greatest over reaction suspension in history), Australia doesn't have a decent bat anywhere. Khawaja and Warner are capable on their days, but not nearly consistent enough. This summer is shaping up as one to forget (and not just because we have yet another friggin series against bloody India - so over that). The only way to save it would be for the groundskeepers to serve up raging green tops at every opportunity. It's the only chance we have, plus it has the added benefit that the best games are almost always the lowest scoring ones.
Dirty Cod Fish
Guest
What's is odd is that the Langer's Perth Scorchers incredibly good side always had 3/4 accumulators in usually like Klinger, Voges, Bancroft/Bell - with the hitters coming in around these blokes. (It must be said, with v. v. good bowling unit.) It is odd that he has moved away from that formula. Maybe its one problem at a time for Langer, with the Test series surely taking the bulk of the thinking away from happy clap cricket...maybe with a little time he will impact a new ideology on the 20/20 approach...?
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
I'm suspecting that Finch is struggling with the responsibility of being the premier batsman in the side...and struggling with leading the side as well. Let him bat easy overs with better players around him.
mrrexdog
Roar Guru
I hate to say it, but the best the Australian Twenty20 team has performed in recent memory was when David Warner was opening the batting and was captain, and Aaron Finch was batting at 5.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
If you have never heard of Shadab, the problem is with you. Our Shield bowlers are excellent (haven't you been following the first 2 games this year?) Our T20 players, however, just never get to play against Australian bowlers.
Targa
Guest
Interesting to know. NZ's 1st T20 vs Pakistan is on Thursday morning (NZT). In that case Williamson might be more important than the big hitters
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
For some of you. Cricket nuffies hang on every ball everywhere.
Brian
Guest
The problem is a lack of any quality bowlers in the Shield or BBL. I'd never heard of Shadab previously but he's ranked No 2 in the world. Look through the T20 bowlers list and see which bowlers play the BBL, Tye (6), Rashid (9), Stanlake (18) and I think that's it for the top 40. So to use a tennis analogy our batsman can smash John Millman but struggled against Nadal, surprise surprise really.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
McDermott has played 4 T20Is on this tour and been run out in the last 3, Bonkers.
Ouch
Roar Rookie
Isn't he 3 for 3 in run outs?
Matt H
Roar Guru
Oh and that Ben McDermott run out was appalling. He hit it firmly straight to the fielder!