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It was a huge setback for Australia when their 2015 World Cup campaign was pushed off track by the Kiwis.
Although the tournament favourites were on the cusp of doing their version of unthinkable, nothing could mask the holes in their batting department. That Australia’s batting line-up was disoriented the moment they faced alien conditions sent shockwaves through the Aussie camp.
The then Australian captain Michael Clarke named the narrow defeat as the “kick up in the backside” that the team needed to get the World Cup in sight. Even though Australia had a commanding victory against Afghanistan, Sri Lanka had marginally exposed them. But it was not until the knockout games that Australia found the perfect combination that ultimately won them the World Cup as well.
The current World Cup bodes more than identical headaches except that their batting order is less dynamic and vulnerable and the bowling far too reliant on their strike bowlers. The defending champions scripted a resounding victory over Afghanistan followed by two triumphs in which two teams unearthed issues that left them with jarring questions.
(Henry Browne/Getty Images)
Between these two wins they were on the receiving end of a clobbering from India, one of the well-settled units in the tournament. Not that Virat Kohli’s men beat the Australians comprehensively; it was how they made the world see Australia’s blackspots were profound. For the men in yellow, it has so far been a tale of unfinished business by the batsmen and seemingly inelastic batting order.
The principal decision is where Glenn Maxwell fits in best. As much as Maxwell was relied on to provide the advantage of power hitting as well as holding the innings together, it is a role in which he has seldom been successful. David Warner’s out-of-tune knock may not have made life smooth against India at the Oval, but Maxwell’s tendency not to stick around didn’t help matters either. Although Maxwell’s lack of promotion ahead of Usman Khawaja forms the fulcrum of the debate, the former’s shortage of temperament to take the game deep has hurt Australia in more than one situation.
At Taunton against Pakistan the openers laid out the platform for Maxwell to detonate. However, the Victorian played only a cameo role before having his stumps flattened. Australia’s chances of finishing with a score in excess of 350 were smoked into dust after the middle order subsided having added just 161 runs after a massive opening stand.
If the batting order was the only thing to go by, Australia might have had relatively marginal problems to sort out. There are also men with the ball who are deficient in their wicket-taking abilities. It makes them overly reliant on pace spearheads Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, leaving no significant depth in the middle overs to bounce out batsmen. As a result, oppositions have learnt to weather the storm of Starc and Cummins and instead go all guns blazing on the rest of the crew.
They snatched victory from the opposition on two occasions in a way that Australian on the one hand and utterly un-Australian on the other, allowing opponents to make a threatening comeback. The five-time champions could comfortably make it to the knockout stage, but that will be when the real test of line-up fluidity and bowling penetration will start.
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