Australia must swing the axe for Sydney

Australia had their pants pulled down in Melbourne. There is no other way to describe it.

In hindsight, or, you know, what was easily forecastable on Boxing Day morning, all the cracks that were papered over after Australia’s emphatic comeback in Adelaide came home to roost on a Melbourne wicket which did more than it’s done in many, many years.

Credit to Matt Page and his groundstaff, but credit also to Ajinkya Rahane and the Indian team who made changes and got their preparation spot on.

No Virat Kohli, rolled for 36 in Adelaide. It was supposed to be all too easy for the Aussies. Or so went the common script leading into Boxing Day.

Heading into the final day’s play, the match was already over. While Australia managed to get a positive in Cameron Green scoring 45 and batting for much of the first session, there was little he and the tail could do about the position they found themselves in.

Being rolled for 191 in the first innings wasn’t good enough from Australia, but not entirely unpredictable either. Joe Burns is horrendously out of form, so is Steve Smith, and the contributions that were made weren’t anywhere near good enough.

Rahane then showed everyone how to bat on a tricky pitch as he compiled an excellent century against an Australian attack who, while not terrible, just couldn’t get it right for long enough.

Then came Australia’s second dig. Burns saw his Test career all but come to a stuttering standstill, wasting a review on his way out, while the rest of the top and middle order failed.

(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Matthew Wade was really the only one who could even attempt to hold his head high, with twin contributions. Neither were big enough, but for a batsman not used to opening doing a job in Australia’s hour of need, he did anything but disgrace himself.

In the end, it was Rahane himself who hit the winning runs as the series now shifts to Sydney.

Of course, for a long time, moving to Sydney for a delayed New Year Test looked unlikely, but news came through from Cricket Australia late last night that it would indeed happen.

While there hasn’t been a great deal of cricket played on the Sydney Cricket Ground this summer, it’s a ground which often takes turn, and is probably, alongside Melbourne, the Australian venue the touring Indians would most like to play on.

What is for sure is the tourists won’t make any change to their successful team, pending the fitness of Umesh Yadav who bowled only 3.3 overs in Australia’s second innings at the MCG.

But Australia must swing the axe. There is no way on the planet they can go into the Sydney Test with the same XI and expect a different result to the one they were served up over the last four days.

The changes should have come after Adelaide, but with Will Pucovski and David Warner unfit, the Aussies simply papered over the cracks and got what was coming to them in Melbourne.

And so, Joe Burns and Travis Head are the likely departures from the side. Apart from his junk time 50, Burns has barely scored a run, while Head has proven time and time again he just isn’t up to Test standard.

Pucovski and Warner both coming into the side is a risk given they have battled injuries and won’t have batted in a match for some weeks, but they are Australia’s only option in an attempt to fix the batting, which, if you cast the mind back, also struggled during the first innings in Adelaide.

While Warner will slot in at the top of the order, it’s now a question over whether Pucovski will be thrown there on debut, or whether Wade will continue at the top.

Will Pucovski (Photo by Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images)

Pucovski has taken to opening for Victoria like a duck to water, but in saying that, scoring runs on suburban roads in Adelaide against state attacks without the best, up against scoring runs at the SCG against a firey Indian attack are two very different things.

In saying that, Wade is a stronger option in the middle order, and so you’d expect Pucovski to stride out alongside Warner to take the first ball of 2021.

There is a train of though that other changes could be made to the Aussie team, but Cameron Green has done enough, Steve Smith isn’t droppable yet, and Matthew Wade did his job.

Besides, there is no other likely options to bring into the team if a third change was going to be made, while the bowlers all have done more than enough across the first two Tests to continue unchanged.

India though will be the happy team here. They hold all the momentum, and head to a ground where the in-form Ravichandran Ashwin could wreak absolute havoc if he gets it right.

There is still a question surrounding whether this series even makes it to the Gabba as well, which would only prop up spirits in the Indian camp further.

There can be no questions the Boxing Day Test was a disaster for Australia.

Now the attention turns to Sydney where they look to recover, but it’ll be an uphill battle to save the Border-Gavaskar trophy for the hosts.

A very, very uphill battle in very, very uncertain times.