It might have been reduced to a 10-over match but last night’s one-off T20I still had significance in that it continued a horrendous eight months of cricket for Australia as they lost to South Africa on the Gold Coast.
Set 109 to win from 10 overs Australia could manage only 7-87 in reply due to a mix of shoddy batting and some clinical bowling from the ever-impressive Proteas.
Australia have now won just five of their last 24 matches across all formats starting from the second Test in South Africa in March.
The Aussies entered that second Test in Port Elizabeth in great form, having won six of their past seven Tests.
They also were on a roll in T20Is at that time, with seven wins from their previous eight matches, including a dominant performance in the tri-series against England and New Zealand.
From that second Test onwards, however, Australian cricket has descended deep into the abyss.
They have gone winless in five Tests, have claimed victory in just one of eight ODIs, and have a 4-7 win-loss record in T20Is, with three of those wins coming against minnow nations in Zimbabwe and the UAE.
A number of those losses, across all formats, have been the result of Australia failing to adapt to foreign conditions.
Not so last night when both their batsmen and their pace-heavy attack got the kind of wicket which is familiar and suitable – a true, bouncy deck with decent pace. That still was not enough.
First their bowlers made life cruisey for the SA batsman by feeding them a banquet of boundary balls.
After three overs SA were 1-42 and Australian skipper Aaron Finch was scrambling for answers. He called for part-timer spinners Glenn Maxwell and D’Arcy Short, who reined things in by combining to take 1-26 from three overs.
The effectiveness of two such modest spinners called into question, once more, the baffling Australian obsession with pace in white ball cricket.
A cursory glance at the T20I bowler rankings would have reminded the Aussie selectors that spinners account for seven of the top eight spots. Spin is the key to T20 cricket, regardless of the type of pitch.
It is puzzling that the Australian selectors continually ignore a truth the rest of the cricketing world long ago acknowledged and acted upon.
Tabraiz Shamsi, an unspectacular T20 spinner, then took 1-12 from two overs just to give the selectors one last elbow in the ribs.
Quicks Lungi Ngidi (2-16 from two overs) and Chris Morris (2-12 from two overs) were also excellent for the Proteas. But the visitors were aided by some ungainly batting.
Finch continued his recent rough trot in white ball cricket for Australia, lurching around the crease impatiently before being clean bowled as he charged Ngidi.
Soon after D’Arcy Short belted a half volley straight to cover, Marcus Stoinis sliced the ball to point, Ben McDermott ramped the ball into the gloves of wicketkeeper Quentin de Kock, and Alex Carey chipped Shamsi straight to long off.
The only member of Australia’s top seven dismissed by a good ball was Lynn, who was bowled by a cracking yorker from Morris.
All of these mistakes left Glenn Maxwell carrying the heavy hopes of his team.
He played some nice shots in his knock of 38 from 23 balls but was simply handed too tough a task by his teammates.
This is Australian cricket in a nutshell at the moment – too few being asked to do too much.
Zavjalova
Roar Rookie
Australia heading down the path of the west indies. Good chance we'll suck for the next decade
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
Hear, Hear! Way too much over analysing.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
Do you mean Maxwell was left too much, or he left too much for others to do again?
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
With you James, Zampa is only 26 and suffering from the 'next leg spinner' expectation. Agar and Zampa should be walk ups, especially as Agar can hold a bat and has played more team oriented innings than a gap filler like Maxwell. Every cricket fan knows there's no real International season, just breaks in the calendar and the selectors need to be putting these guys in to build experience. Sure they should be dropped if form is diabolical, but they aren't going to be Narine or even 20yo Rashid if they don't play in all conditions and learn from thumpings. Also they aren't responsible for the ball the batsmen in their team is facing. The best 6 can't set a score at the moment, so blaming bowlers for scores needed to be chased is disingenuous. T20 is a lottery and the new age reliance on Moneyball only goes so far.
Ben
Roar Rookie
He has been for a while.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
I don't care how you spin it Ronan, 10 over cricket only exists in a backyard on Christmas Day with Grandma umpiring.
JamesH
Roar Guru
BTW, Short only bowled one over and went for 12 runs so I don't think you can say he 'reined things in'.
anon
Roar Pro
Like I said, the criticism of the guy is utterly insane and that proves it.
Matt H
Roar Guru
I just noticed in the ICC rankings that Maxwell is the number one ranked all rounder in T20 cricket.
Ouch
Roar Rookie
The only time Australia have ever looked like they have a clue how to play 20/20 was when David Warner was captain. They won 7/8 or 8/9
Matt H
Roar Guru
Spot on.
josh
Roar Rookie
As soon as Finch chose to bowl it was downhill from there.
Matt H
Roar Guru
And yet Finch won the toss and bowled.
JamesH
Roar Guru
The question is, who do we pick? Agar should absolutely be in the side but the second spinning option is up in the air. International spinners come to the BBL and dominate but our locals are mostly pretty modest in terms of their performances. Zampa should be an option but no one seems to have any faith in him to cut it at international level. Fawad Ahmed had a good BBL but he's a massive liability in the field. Nathan Lyon takes wickets but isn't economical enough. Chris Green has only just turned 25 and is a good batsman and fielder too. He could be one to watch in the leadup to the 2020 T20I world cup. If D'Arcy Short can work on his spin then he could be a very valuable player in this format. At this point I'd like to see both Agar and Zampa in the side for ODIs and T20Is for the summer, just to see what they can achieve. There's no point selecting sides for the short term because we're pretty terrible right now anyway.
Ben
Roar Rookie
Sportscafe.in/articles/cricket/2018/nov/17/video-glenn-maxwell-left-shocked-after-alex-carey-misses-a-simple-stumping/amp
Maxwell Charlesworth
Roar Rookie
McDermott's ramp shot that he got out to in the 1st over he faced proved that he is not ready for international cricket.
Maxwell Charlesworth
Roar Rookie
Do you mean that massive bottom edge that was almost impossible to pick when standing up to the stumps? Bit harsh to say that was a proper chance.
Rob
Guest
Love to see our batsmen give the funky shots away and start playing the ball on it's merit's. Don't know what the cricket academy is teaching the current players but it seems they're trying to invent ways to score and completely forgetting about playing the low risk controlled stroke. Our bowlers are lost in the art of control also. I feel sorry for Finch trying to set fields to some of the inconsistent lines and lengths being delivered on a regular basis.
Charging Rhino
Roar Guru
Today I read that Faf du Plessis has made history, becoming the first captain to beat Australia in Australia in all 3 formats of the game, even though the T20 was one game only. Not sure if it’s true? I’m guessing so because the T20 format is only fairly recent.
Brian
Guest
I did not realise we were that bad 0-1-4 in Tests 1-7 ODI 1-7 T20 New Zealand would be shocked with that. Its the kind of record only Bangladesh and West Indies would expect. Having said that the problem is we keep thinking the BBL is top class which it clearly ain't. Take Darcy Short, one good BBL season does not make you a solid international player. Worse is the looming Test series. Looking at the weekend's first innings scores of the 1st test team in the Shield Renshaw 21 Burns 6 Khawaja (injured) S Marsh 21 Head 87 M Marsh 1 Paine 3 Cummins 1 Starc 0* Lyon 5 Hazlewood 0 That's 145 + Khawaja against Shield attacks. Head's likely to play his competition got Harris 22 Handscomb 4 Ferguson 0 Lehman 8 batting deplorable for ages but being masked by the greatness of Steve Smith and prior to that Michael Clarke