When the sun rose on the MCG on Boxing Day the talk among cricket connoisseurs was about how green the wicket looked. By lunch the experts were predicting a draw on a dull and lifeless pitch.
By Day 2 the curator was being slammed as incompetent, and by Day 3 many observed that only the team who won the toss had the opportunity to win this Test. Yet among the discussions about wickets, grass and drop-ins surely we have missed the most important point – with the often exception of Usman Khawaja, Australia’s top six simply cannot play Test match cricket.
Of all the dismissals in our first innings in Melbourne, only Khawaja was the victim of the condition of the pitch, a ball that spat out of the rough and took the inside edge. On the other hand, Aaron Finch, Marcus Harris, the Marsh brothers and Travis Head all fell victim to what I like to call Twenty20-itis, a condition contracted by the modern player whereby they are unable to stifle their natural urge to try and hit everything that is launched from 22 yards. The condition is curable; however, it requires enormous mental application.
Which is exactly what Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli demonstrated on days one and two. While they were being berated by the Channel 7 commentators for playing “boring cricket” or “playing for a draw”, they knew something that we didn’t. Batting was becoming increasingly difficult. Australia tried bowling wide to Virat Kohli to entice an edge and short to Pujara to bounce him out, but all they did was waste a relatively hard ball.
Pujara, who plays no white-ball cricket at all – he must hate wearing pyjamas to bed – was happy to play his natural leave-nudge game and outwait the Aussie tactics. Pujara did his best Bill Lawry or Geoffrey Boycott, impersonating a style of traditional Test cricket that is extinct by today’s standards.
Kohli too showed tremendous self-control and the Indians did what no Australian team has been able to do in recent years: they batted time and made the opposition bowl to them.
So when Kohli pulled the pin on 443, the commentary box thought it was a strange declaration. It wasn’t. Kohli knew he was playing against a bunch of Kaboom Kids who had no temperament and no restraint. A bunch of bucket heads, who were flat-track bullies but lacked solid techniques, the ability to shoulder arms and simply grind when to going got tough.
India bowled full and straight and let the dubious techniques of the Aussie top order do the rest. Finch fell victim to a simple trap, getting out in exactly the same fashion as he did in Adelaide. Harris had a brain snap. The Marsh boys did what they do best, letting us down when we needed them most, and Head, again, showed his shot selection is terrible.
But can you really blame Finch and Head? They are cut from the same Twenty20 cloth – strong, free strikers of the ball who would look more at home as lumberjacks than cricketers. It is preposterous that Finch, who 12 months ago wasn’t even playing for his state, and Head, who averages only 36 playing on one of the best decks in the world, even have a baggy green. It is a huge failing of a system that values one-day and Twenty20 runs over Shield consistency.
Australia will no doubt lose this Test, and in the wash-up there will be those who are quick to blame the cruel hand of fate and the toss of the coin; however, it is clear that our obsession with Twenty20 is one of the real reasons our boys can no longer cut the mustard.
How we would kill for a Simon Katich, Mark Taylor or Steve Smith in our top six. Alas, it appears the Indians, for the first time in history, have come over here and cut our grass, regardless of how green it was or wasn’t.
Peter Hunt
Roar Guru
Great reply Paul. You stole my thunder. People have short memories following a batting collapse. One of the things I have been most impressed with in the tests against Pakistan and India is that the Australian batsman have, generally, dug in and batted for long periods. As you pointed out, this happened as recently as last week in Perth. Where we have a real problem is scoring BIG once we’ve done all the hard work.
Spanner
Roar Rookie
They dont play T20 peeeko !
peeeko
Roar Guru
doesnt seem to have effected our bowlers
DR
Guest
Kangas, unfortunately part of the problem is that there isn’t good systems in place at junior levels. Runs at junior representative level are more highly valued than Grade/Premier cricket runs and virtually all junior representative games are shorter form cricket. In all States there is plenty of batters scoring big runs in Premier cricket who are being over-looked for the fast tracked youngsters like Edwards, Sangha and Harvey. None of these players have had to score grade runs to earn their shot, just like Head, Finch, Marsh et al haven’t had to score big Shield runs to earn their chance at International level. If the currency isn’t consistent runs/centuries as they come through the pathway then how can we expect them to consistently deliver at Test level. All of the above have 7-10 centuries from 137-159 FC innings with averagesbin the low to mid 30’s. I know there a few exceptions but very few players who perform better at Test level than FC level. We are reaping what we sowed over the last 10 years with the pathway system.
Spanner
Roar Rookie
Totally agree Dean and although the Indian attack has been terrific, when you are "set" (20 plus) it should take a pretty good egg to get you out. Our boys have been undisciplined at best and I believe the impact of this beach cricket has well and truly arrived !
Noah Barling
Roar Pro
Renshaw always has a knack of losing form just when he is on the verge of selection. Who knows if Langer hadn't been a fool in the UAE and let Renshaw play maybe he would have done well?
pakistanstar
Roar Rookie
At least our bowlers got a good rest in the first innings...
Cadfael
Roar Guru
If they aren't prfepared for the long stay at the crease, drop them for someone who will.
1st&10
Guest
20/20-Australian baseball is in the process of bringing up a flawed type of batsmen. No more innings that require long term concentration, adaption to different conditions, the red ball etc etc
Paul
Roar Guru
So you decided T20 cricket was to blame for Australia's batting issues based on the first innings of this Test and that India had the upper hand because guys like Kohli & Pujara could play long innings and our guys could not. I realize you probably wrote this during our batting collapse yesterday, but if we batted like T20 players, how did India go? The two guys you were talking up made exactly zero runs between them in the second innings and were out to great field placements. The rest of their side were not a whole lot better in either innings. I don't disagree with your premise about T20 cricket but yesterday's innings was a poor example to use. These guys are ALL capable of playing long innings at first class level and they've all proved it in Shield or Test cricket. In fact, they proved it in Perth and nearly did so in Adelaide. The fact is, this pitch clearly favoured the side batting first and I'm sure our guys could have done as well if Paine had won the toss and batted first. Do some guys need to tighten their techniques - absolutely. Are there guys in the side who are out of form - in my opinion, for sure. Has short form cricket shaped some of our batting - undoubtedly, but that's the case around the world, both in good ways and bad. The task Langer has is simple - get these guys ready to bat for long periods and that's a mental, not a physical thing. He's shown in at least 3 Tests he can get guys to do that. It's really up to the players to apply themselves.
Admiral Ackbar
Guest
Exactly Dean. What's Matt Renshaw done to cheese off Justin Langer & the selectors? Are they afraid that with him in the side they might actually win???
Mick Jeffrey
Roar Rookie
Unfortunately many of the junior systems revolve around playing 20 over cricket. At club level most games are either 20 or 40/50 overs.
Kangas
Roar Rookie
Shaun Marsh dismissal wasn’t twenty 20 related, but a excellent piece of bowling again by Bumrah . However I agree that 20 over cricket is not going to produce test batsmen for Australia. This was obviously entirely predictable that this would occur . It’s a systematic problem now thst Sheffield Shield doesn’t seem to be overflowing with good test prospects. Let’s hope their are good systems in place at junior level to produce test batsmen or this could end up like the wallabies.