At some point prior to the Australian cricket summer starting, a pretty contented Justin Langer and Tim Paine would have sat down and done some forward planning, as good managers do.
I’d imagine their plan would have been pretty simple and most likely contained four key objectives:
•Win the series at home against India
•Win the Test series in South Africa
•Win the Test Championship Final at Lords in June
•Win the Ashes in Australia
Much of their contentment would have stemmed from the results this Australian side produced the previous summer, trouncing Pakistan and putting a very strong New Zealand team to the sword.
Along the way, David Warner produced some career-best form, in Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith the team had two of the top three batsmen in Test cricket and a four-pronged attack, backed up by James Pattinson, which was the envy of other cricketing nations.
Sure, there were a few small niggles, like the form of Joe Burns and Matthew Wade, but Travis Head had just scored a great hundred and Tim Paine was showing some strong on-field leadership after some difficult times in England. In all, this was a team that, barring injury, was tipped to be close to invincible.
Fast forward to the present day and it’s safe to say things are very different. The series loss to India exposed significant issues in a number of areas with the personnel in the current XI. The series loss also exposed a severe lack of Test-ready players good enough to step up if form issues or injury affected one of the incumbents.
There are also question marks around team tactics for batting, bowling and field placements. In short, Australia now seems to have a number of major issues it must address over the coming months.
Justin Langer (Photo by Matt King – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
Langer and Paine need to hit the reset button on the priorities for the team and forget about short-term goals like making the Test Championship final or even winning the series in South Africa.
If either of these two things happens, fair enough and Australia should certainly not be playing to lose games, which would do nothing to fix any of the current problems.
The new priorities should be:
•Use the South African tour to develop new tactics for all three facets of the game
•Provide opportunities for more players to play Test cricket, with a view to enlarging the talent pool prior to the Ashes
•Win the Ashes
Starting with the bowlers, I’d take Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon plus Mitchell Swepson, Michael Neser, James Pattinson and, if fit, Jhye Richardson to South Africa.
Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood could either have a break, play some Shield cricket or perhaps tour New Zealand with the T20 side.
Leaving out Paine’s two main strike bowlers will force the captain and Langer to re-think their approach to bowling, which has become stale. There’s nothing wrong with high-pressure line and length bowling, but if those tactics aren’t working, what will?
Tim Paine (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
Ditto with field placements. Paine is not an intuitive captain, so forcing him to think out of the box by using different bowling combinations might lead to greater on-field success
Many have called for Neser to be given a baggy green and Pattinson’s only “crime” is being born at the same time as so many other quality quicks, meaning he’s not played as much as he probably deserved. Mitchell Swepson has done well in the Shield this summer and needs to show whether he can step up a level, while Lyon and Starc could do with some confidence building.
Jhye Richardson’s been killing it in the BBL and has booked himself on the plane to the T20 World Cup, so what’s the point of him touring New Zealand and letting them face one of our main bowlers in India, later this year?
I’d also like to see selectors mix and match bowlers for the three Tests in South Africa, just to see which combinations work and which don’t. We have good depth in our fast bowling but aren’t using it, so the South Africa tour is a great opportunity to give a few guys a go.
In terms of the touring batsmen, I’d let Dave Warner and Matthew Wade play in New Zealand and take Sam Whiteman, Will Puckovski, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Josh Inglis, Cameron Green and Travis Head to South Africa.
Both Whiteman and Inglis have had fine Shield seasons to date and the South African tour would be a great chance to see whether they’re capable of going to the next level with their batting.
At present, Travis Head represents part of the likely future Test top six, but obviously needs to sort out some concentration issues. He’s far more likely to do that when facing top-quality bowlers in South Africa than he is playing Shield cricket on docile pitches in Australia.
Once the South African tour is over, there’s no more Test cricket scheduled for Australia until the Ashes.
That situation is not likely to change given the ongoing restrictions thanks to COVID-19, as well as the T20 World Cup, due to be played in October-November this year. England, on the other hand, will be playing India next month, as well as more Tests against the same country in August-September.
Australia needs a large pool of confident, capable players to take them on. We also need a captain capable of using innovative tactics when things get tough, otherwise we could easily be facing back-to-back home series losses.
Paul
Roar Guru
yeah, dunno about liability laws, etc. I get the impression Mr Clarke has a very high opinion of himself and wouldn't take kindly to being criticised.
Paul
Roar Guru
Maybe "Paine from Sandpapergate" or something like that
Dexter The Hamster
Roar Rookie
Any guesses on the name of his book? With a name like Paine, the options seem endless. I like "The Paine Threshold".
Dexter The Hamster
Roar Rookie
Very well said.
Dexter The Hamster
Roar Rookie
Sounds like the makings of an article Paul.... :happy:
Dexter The Hamster
Roar Rookie
Its not easy....
Paul
Roar Guru
with all the blokes running onto the ground several times an hour, or the blokes getting drinks down on the boundary, I'd have thought it very easy to get thoughts from the coach or whom ever to Paine. That makes me question whether the right thoughts are being passed on and if they are, whether they're being ignored? I guess we'll find out when the Tim Paine book's released in a few years. :stoked:
Cadfael
Roar Guru
Another issue CA needs to come to grips with for the future is the next test captain. Paine is the current captain and Cummins his vc. When was the last time a fast bowler was given the role of captain in Australian cricket, not for a test or two but on a long term basis. Labuschagne may be an option as vc.
matth
Roar Guru
This is a really good insight. I believe Langer is a good motivator and Paine is a good man-manager but both may not be intuitive tacticians. There is a lack of flexibility. Langer must be part of this because at worst the captain can consult with the coach after each session and the coach has had time and perspective to see what the captain maybe can't in the heat of battle.
Richie
Roar Rookie
It’s almost an honour to get beaten by the Indians, but downright unacceptable, unheard of, reprehensible to accept defeat to them...... :silly:
Paul
Roar Guru
could not agree more. Losing to the Indians is one thing but getting beaten in a home Ashes series is way bad!!
Richie
Roar Rookie
Yes Paine is our captain for the foreseeable future and I’m sure he is aware of this. I’m also sure he is aware of his weaknesses. The question is for us avid fans is can he adjust? I’ll actually back him too! He must because I hate losing to the poms.
Carlin
Roar Rookie
Some interesting ideas there Paul. After some big bowling loads Cummins could do with a rest but I think he is too valuable to Australia not to be in a test squad. I would still take Cummins, Hazelwood and Starc to South Africa but rest one per test, that way that keeps some continuity in selection but allows a rest for them. This would then open the door for someone like Nesser, Richardson and Pattison (if fit) to get some tests under their belt. I think all three frontline seamers will have a point to prove that they can bowl a team out to win a test match. On the batting side of things is Usam Khawaja completely out of favour now? Sorry I am from NZ so do not completely following all the happenings but does seem his name hasnt been mentioned for a while.
adamkiwi
Roar Rookie
Great article. As a kiwi have to say you Aussies are over reacting a wee bit . You have a great collection of players, they just needs to play as a team. That's how India beat you, they played better as a team. It's how you spanked us last year - team effort. The captain may have to go as captain, but dam he's still a really good player. You have a lot of really great players, you just need them to remind them this is a team sport.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
Neither were Siddons, Cox, di Venuto raw 20 year olds, but 2 bad innings from a Waugh didn't have them playing. I'd take up another sport if I was Starc and told after taking a 4fa in a rout of the opposition, that I wasn't playing the next game! This isn't baseball with a 168 game season and a chance to throw two thirds of an innings tomorrow ready for a starting roll on Thursday. Surely an elite form bowler has an expectation that he'll be given a chance to change his fortunes on a deck he has not performed well on before? After a coupla dropped catches it'd also be reasonable for him to think he was unlucky, but not bowling badly? I understand the object of the game is to take 20 wickets, but dropping a dozen catches can't be underestimated. I'm all for next man up, but resting Cummins & Hazelwood who were metaphorically bowled into the ground because the other 3 options weren't viable for the Captain, is cutting off your nose to spite your face. I know you said you'd take Starc and I agree and if fit to take he must play. Every series is a different environment and therefore a different team turns up, even if basically the same players.
Pierro
Roar Rookie
Spot on. https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/cummins-and-goings-paine-has-done-a-sterling-job-but-it-might-be-time-for-change-at-top-20210123-p56wbr.html
Pierro
Roar Rookie
You could well be right at centurion there’s an argument to see there are occasions where we could go four seamers and no spinner for sure eg hazel patto cummins and neser with labs leggies and greens continued cameo. The big problem in uk ashes but more so here against india at mcg and scg they wouldn’t rotate lyon where his average is poor, same for starc . Spilt milk now but like the way your thinking for centurion we need to be open minded and do the analysis at each ground nowadays
Pierro
Roar Rookie
He’s part of the reason nudge whether you like it or not his fields were to defensive or not in right place at all and he kept poorly for two tests dropping pant at a key time at scg which enabled them to survive . Sure selectors didn’t help but paine has botched headingly with drs and poor fields now scg and gabba how much is enough . We need to make changes and he’s one of them . I’ve mentioned nz plenty on here we batted first and nz came off an immediate kiwi series with totally different pitches and boult came here injured and struggled through one match and ferguson went down early in one test and never bowled again in second innings and williamson missed the last test and was carrying injuries m we batted first and had them out in seering heat . Plenty of reasons timmy didn’t have to do a thing last summer. As for england smith and cummins saved his hind to get him two wins , smiths record breaking run spree made a difference and one could argue no smith and paine goes home with a defeat and no wins as he racked 200 plus in each test won . warner did nothing in uk and was a liability and you have to wonder if Warner’s ommission was an excuse for the india first series loss in aus. What’s sure is paine is an onfield tacticsl liability and paine pr and ca pr army are willing to accept medicority when the guy was an interim captain . Sorry plenty agrre probably the majority now he has to go as captain. I do know the selectors didn’t help in this past series sticking to lyon and starc on the wrong pitches and selecting burns at all was a mistake but paine has to wear two series losses to india . Nz have virtually never won in aus but neither had india and paine now has two series losses to india . Not acceptable
Rossi
Roar Rookie
Seeing as though we are light on batsmen and have plenty of quickies, I think 5 bowlers should be an option? We rely heavily on Smith and Lab anyway
Paul
Roar Guru
hi Peter I've been thinking about Paine's captaincy quite a bit over the past few weeks and wonder if there aren't a lot of similarities between he and what I term "the South African style"? I'm talking about the Cronje, Pollock & Smith eras, where they were meticulous in their planning and probably 80 - 90% of the time, their plan A worked really well. The problem arose when Plan A didn't work, because it seemed they either didn't have much of a Plan B or perhaps they were unable to react quickly enough to what was happening in the match. That's the impression Paine gives me. Plan A worked outstandingly well last summer, but obviously not in the last two Tests and again at Headingly and on each occasion, he arguably took too long to come up with different tactics and/or came up with approaches that were not the right choices. Intuitive skippers like Benaud, Chappelli, even Michael Clarke would have done things differently I'm sure and it begs the question, who in the Australian camp has that level of intuitive knowledge to help him? I doubt greatly Langer does.