Australia were looking shaky early on Day 1 at the Gabba, but by the close of play, Marnus Labuschagne and the middle order had wrestled the game back to an even keel in the final Test of the series against India.
It’s been a large narrative of the summer for the hosts, but their openers couldn’t get the job done yet again, with both David Warner – still clearly not at full fitness – and the re-called Marcus Harris failing.
Warner played a poor shot to a full ball, snicking off to be out for one, before Harris followed, out for five shortly afterwards.
There are many reasons that could be attributed to another slow start, chief among them the 26th swap in openers Australia have made in the last four and a bit years, to go with a lack of red ball and Sheffield Shield cricket for both Warner and Harris.
Regardless though, the stats are damning for the duo, who had Australia’s lowest opening stand at the Gabba in more than a decade. They were 2-17 when Harris departed – and in the last decade at the Gabba, the worst they have been is 2-30.
From the failures of Joe Burns, the rash shots of Matthew Wade and David Warner’s twin failures in Sydney, Australia have lost all ability to play the red ball at the top of the order.
While this series might be just about over – and with India again facing more injuries and a weakened team, it may not matter this time – but South Africa are on the horizon. Whether it’s in South Africa or as recently reported moved to Perth, they are issues that need to be fixed in a hurry.
Both of the aforementioned locations often suit bowlers, especially with the new ball, and Australia can ill afford to continue putting Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith into tricky positions – as they did through the Ashes series in England – and hope to get away with it.
Marnus Labuschagne is a rock in Australia’s top order. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
But get away with it they did yesterday. While India having six bowlers out – Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and of course Jasprit Bumrah – probably played a part, as did the injury to Navdeep Saini mid-way through the day, Labuschagne led the Aussie recovery yesterday.
He played with intent at the right times, but didn’t overdo it until he was dismissed for 108 from 204 balls. It was gritty at times, but he kept the intent up, pushed for singles and rarely allowed himself to get bogged down.
Getting bogged down is something the Aussies have done with regularity throughout this series, the second innings in Melbourne being the greatest example.
Instead of that, by the end of Day 1, Australia were rolling along at about three runs per over, with Labuschagne keeping things moving. He only hit nine boundaries in his knock, and constantly looked to just place the ball around the park, keeping the Indian bowlers and fielders on their tails, and not allowing them to work at plans.
While wickets did tumble at the other end – with Steve Smith looking solid before succumbing to Washington Sundar, and Matthew Wade playing another crazy shot, which should all but put the final nail in the coffin of his Test career – Labuschagne just kept on plugging away.
He got to his ton and, in hot and humid conditions, should have cashed in on a tiring Indian side, but instead threw it away.
The timing of him doing so left Australia in reverse and scrambling to save things, but with Cameron Green and Tim Paine soundly battling their way to stumps, it has left honours even at the end of the first day’s play, with the first session of today’s play shaping up to be critical in forming the direction this Test travels in.
Tim Paine will be desperate to lift the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. (Photo by Patrick Hamilton/AGP via Getty Images).
While Green was defiant in his defence, Paine was able to play his shots and keep things ticking over, which was badly needed given the injury to Saini, the conditions and the third-rate Indian attack, who were starting to struggle in the Brisbane heat.
In saying that, for someone who hasn’t bowled in first-class cricket for quite some time, Washington Sundar bowled excellently for the tourists, while Mohammed Siraj did his utmost in standing up to lead the inexperienced attack, who came into the day with just 13 Test wickets to their collective names.
That was compared to the more than a thousand the Australian attack held between them. It’s an incredible stat, and maybe one of the most lopsided in the history of Test cricket. And yet, at the end of Day 1, India have held their own and are right in this match, although having to bat last could be telling by the time Days 4 and 5 roll around.
Still, Australia need more runs. They aren’t at a comfortable score yet, let alone a good one, and it’ll be down to Paine, Green and the tail to continue on with the platform Labuschagne built for them yesterday.
With no changes to the bowling attack, and on a pitch where runs look like they will continue to flow, Australia will probably be aiming for something north of 400 before they want to think about lacing up the bowling boots.
However, there is no doubt Labuschagne and some nice cameo work from the under-pressure middle order saved the day yesterday.
The openers are a headache for the selectors, but they will get another chance at some point. Australian fans can only hope they take it with both hands, in a completely different fashion to yesterday’s feeble effort.
Fans will hope they take their chance exactly like Labuschagne did yesterday in compiling a century, just Australia’s second of the series.
Rohan
Roar Rookie
Yes Ponting was the last good number 3. Because since then the best players have not played there. Smith would love the captaincy back, give him an incentive to play at 3 and show himself as a genuine leader. Give the new blokes a go down the order, our best ever players have all started that way. It's a proven formula, what is the reason for it's end?
Wayne
Roar Guru
Marnus is a good 3. So leave him at 3. Use shield to find someone to open. And actually pick an opener, not just a batsman. Facing the new ball when energy is high is different beast
Rohan
Roar Rookie
Got you thinking now Wayne, best to try to answer your own question, don’t leave it in rhetoric.
Col in Paradise
Roar Rookie
I was talking about my pre game thoughts re Stoinis..had the same thought for Sydney…Warner had a dreadful Ashes then some easy stuff at home..just got this feeling the groin injury is the thing he needed a break this series..talking experience here with groin injuries…plus 2 of my three sons and others…he shouldn’t have rushed back…
Micko
Roar Rookie
And there's the other problem!
Wayne
Roar Guru
Who plays first drop then? Australia haven't had a good one since R Ponting
Micko
Roar Rookie
I said a month or so ago: the best spot for Marnus is opening as we don't have any obviously good options for opening. He's effectively opening most of the time anyway.
Rohan
Roar Rookie
I agree Colin, I could see Stoinis in the team, but at 3. For me the elephant in the room is how consistently well Marnus has played the new ball under pressure after the openers have failed, how many times now, can anyone tell me? But of course everyone will say - he's making runs where he is at 3, don't muck him up- I reckon Marnus would eat opening for breakfast, we're missing a trick here.
Steele
Roar Rookie
Yup, we need a reliable number five. Would feel better if we had a better bat than Paine at seven despite doing a pretty good job. I like Carey as a batsman.
Steele
Roar Rookie
SMarsh should have played, it’s just obvious now. I get the reasoning why they didn’t(age, previous flops). However, he is in career best form and quite easily one of the Countries top six batsman. That much I am sure of. He just couldn’t have done any worse than, Wade/Head/Burns/Harris. Just pick the guys who have two years of excellent shield form, regardless of anything else. Moises is one of those guys and made the squad, but why not play him when others are failing? Green is another one and is starting to show a bit.
Steele
Roar Rookie
Yes but physical fitness is an important aspect of sport.
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
It's not whether the South African series is going to be in Perth or SA.. It won't be in SA Scott. It's whether it's Perth or the UAE.. Which has emerged as a strong contender to host it.. I'm not happy with Aussie pitches right now.. Just looking at the Gabba pitch it's even surprising the Aussie players for its dryness.. When SA plays Aus two great pace attacks....give them something to bowl on please and it could be really fascinating.. But if Aus wants to dish up pitches like this and neutralize both sides biggest weapons then let's play in the UAE rather.
Johnny B
Roar Rookie
I couldn't agree with you more. Well said. :thumbup: The last Shield game ended on November 11th and the next one starts February 12th. Anyone that is potentially capable to play test cricket is now too busy honing their ramps, reverse sweeps, scoops, helicopters and any other low percentage scoring, 'get out' BBL shots. The Shield competition used to be played from September through to March/April and was our top flight competition for our future test players. In my opinion, it's all but been reduced to a semi-regular 'bookended' competition in order to stage the primetime TV BBL. With players under pressure to score quickly and to all parts of the ground is it any wonder we have no serious test level batting depth in this country. I shudder to think where we would be right now if it wasn't for Smudge and Marnus.
Micko
Roar Rookie
So what age should be the limit on selection?
Johnny B
Roar Rookie
I couldnt agree more John, you're spot on. The last Shield game ended on November 11th and the next fixture begins February 12th and we wonder why we have no depth in our batting. Anyone who is half decent is currently off honing their ramp, reverse sweep, scoop, helicopter or some other low percentage scoring, get out shot. Yes, I understand CA needs the BBL scheduled in on primetime television at some stage during the school holidays to help rake in revenue but should it be at the expense of the very breeding ground for our national test team?
JOHN ALLAN
Guest
Can’t recall the year however new ball was taken when score reached 200. England were batting defensively so Bill Lawry was introduced into the attack. Result was a couple of wides that reached the boundary & new ball was taken. Could anybody recall the year? Think it was in England mid 60’s.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
India actually have seven bowlers out with injuries- you can add to the list Bhuvneshvar Kumar, who has a handy Test record. They also chose to leave out possibly their next best spinner, Kuldeep, in order to play Sundar to bolster the batting. Their choice, but arguably makes the task of the batsmen a touch easier.
Bobbo7
Guest
They play a lot of thier cricket on roads. Warner struggles when not on a road. Pucovski two innings in but does look promising. Comparisons to NZ are hard. The ball does a lot more for longer in NZ. Williamson's huge runs recently have been on wickets doing quite a bit. The results on paper did not do Pakistan's bowlers justice. Would help if they could catch! Smith is a superstar as we all know and Marnus looks very good too.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Agree, this time it was mainly a question of good ball, good catch. It happens. Not that he’s looking good.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
He’s batting well. But if he’d been caught off a straight forward chance we would have been 4-93 and Marnus would have copped similar criticism to the others. Nature of cricket I suppose.