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Australia's incredible reliance on batting first in Tests

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Expert
12th December, 2018
22

From the moment Indian skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and decided to bat first at Adelaide, Australia were already miles behind.

That’s because India statistically are a dominant side when batting first and Australia are awful when batting second.

While Australia’s travails against spin and in foreign conditions have been analysed ad nauseum in recent years, one issue which has been ignored by comparison is how they wilt when batting second in Tests.

Australia are a commanding side when they bat first but highly vulnerable when they don’t, an indication they struggle to deal with even a modicum of scoreboard pressure.

Consider these damning statistics over the past five calendar years:

  • Australia batting first in Tests: 15 wins, 5 losses
  • Australia batting second in Tests: 11 wins, 14 losses

So when Australia bat first they have a sensational win-to-loss ratio of 3.0, a figure which plummets to 0.78 when they bat second. In other words, Australia are almost four times more likely to win than lose if they get to bat first.

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What is even more gobsmacking is that India are nine times – yes, nine times – more likely to win than lose if they get to bat first in Tests.

In the past five calendar years India’s win-to-loss ratio is 5.5 when batting first and 0.6 batting second:

  • India batting first in Tests – 22 wins, 4 losses
  • India batting second in Tests – 6 wins, 10 losses

These are extraordinary discrepancies for the two teams involved in this series. There is no doubt batting first in Tests is an advantage in most circumstances – it tends to offer the better batting conditions and removes the pressure of having to chase a total in the fourth innings.

Travis Head bats

(AP Photo/James Elsby)

But these advantages are not so big as to explain the jaw-dropping disparity in performances by Australia and India. Australia simply seem too mentally fragile to consistently cope with the tough task of batting second.

All too often in recent years their bowlers have done a fine job in the first innings of a Test, dismissing their opponents for a below-par score, only for the Australian batsmen to undo all their good work.

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At Adelaide India’s first innings total of 250 was at least 100 runs short of a par score on a pitch which offered neither extravagant seam movement nor disconcerting turn on day one.

In Australia’s previous Test, against Pakistan at Adu Dhabi, the visiting bowlers were impressive in restricting Pakistan to 282 on a good day one batting pitch. Then Australia collapsed for 145 and the Test was all but over.

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Three Tests previous to that South Africa batted first on a decent pitch at Cape Town and managed only 311, which was widely considered to be below par at the time. By the time Australia were dismissed for just 255 in their first dig their chances of victory had become slim.

At Adelaide the only reason the Test ended in a close finish was because the Australian tail-enders picked up the slack from the batsmen. In the first innings Pat Cummins came out to bat at 6-127, and in the second dig at 6-156.

The Australian bowlers could be forgiven for thinking they have been carrying the team for some time. That’s because they have.

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