- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
David Warner has surely played his last Test innings but with Australia’s gun-shy selectors continually reluctant to pull the trigger on big-name players despite undeniable evidence, they will probably give him yet another chance in the second match at Delhi.
Warner made a painful 10 in the second innings of the first Test at Nagpur and should have been out for one for the second time in the match, fortunate to be dropped by Virat Kohli off first slip.
It didn’t matter much with the veteran opener out to his nemesis, Ravichandran Ashwin, for the 11th time in his 16th Test against the off-spinner as the tourists slumped to be all out for 91, their second lowest score ever against India to lose by an innings and 132 runs.
“I’m a bit shell-shocked to be quite honest, hopefully our players are very embarrassed by that performance, as simple as that,” former Test captain Allan Border said on Fox Cricket. “It’s just poor all round. Game over inside three days, I’m in stark disbelief it’s happened so quickly.
“LBWs left right and centre. It’s just basic batting technique. We’re just struggling in these conditions. I get the feeling we overthought this particular tour, who should be there, who shouldn’t be there. I think Travis Head is a perfect example – it was just chaos before it even got started.
David Warner. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
“You can’t panic too much but they got a few of the selections wrong. Travis Head should have been there. What position, I’m not 100% sure, higher up the order or down the order. I’d be going in with a harder edge, for sure.”
The line-up has to be overhauled. “There’s got to be changes, there’s no doubt about that,” former selector Mark Waugh said on Fox Cricket commentary, adding that Head “was unlucky to miss out”.
Warner should be the first to go – he now has 399 runs from nine Tests in India at a woeful average of 22.16 and at 36, retirement should be forced upon him by the selectors.
And if the selectors don’t have the gumption to tap him on the shoulder, others should be chosen to do the job properly.
Over the course of his career he has been a run machine on home soil but has struggled away from Australia. In his 11 Tests overseas since returning from his ban in 2019, Warner has managed just 339 runs with a highest score of 68 and a paltry average of 16.95.
If that’s not enough to get dropped then nothing will be.
Head was controversially omitted from the first Test due to his poor record on spinning wickets.
At 29, at least the South Australian left-hander has a chance of turning around that poor form midway through the career and he also is coming into this tour off the back of a red-hot summer in Australia.
Warner has made just one hundred since the start of 2020 – his double ton at the MCG in December which revived a career that had been on its last legs.
Surely there can be no more last chances after his twin failures in Nagpur.
It’s not like he’s been the lone ranger – opening partner Usman Khawaja fell cheaply in both innings, and middle-order duo Peter Handscomb and Matt Renshaw also struggled.
Renshaw should be elevated to his preferred opening role instead of Warner, opening up a slot for all-rounder Cameron Green if he’s able to return from his finger injury or Head.
Todd Murphy spun his way into the record books on day three of the first Test against India but his stunning start to his career was the only bright spot for the Australians.
In short, they have been outclassed in every facet of play in the match.
India’s tail wagged brilliantly, in stark contrast to Australia’s collapse. The last four Aussie wickets fell for just 14 runs whereas the home side added 171 with Ravindra Jadeja (70) and Axar Patel (84) combining for an 88-run partnership and noted bunny Mohammed Shami scoring more than double the Australian tail on his own as the Indians went from 6-229 to be all out for 400.
Murphy made the first two breakthroughs on day three to finish with 7-124, the best figures by an Australian since fellow off-spinner Jason Krejza bagged 8-215 on the same ground in 2008.
The 22-year-old Victorian’s figures were the 23rd-best in Test cricket history for a first-gamer and the only Australians who did better were all-time record-holder Albert Trott, who took 8-43 against England in Adelaide in 1895, Bob Massie, who made an incredible debut at Lord’s in 1972, with 8-53 and 8-84, and Tom Kendall’s 7-55 in the very first match at 1877.
CLICK HERE for a seven-day free trial to watch cricket on KAYO
Todd Murphy celebrates taking the wicket of Ravindra Jadeja. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
No matter what combination they settle on, Australia desperately need a fifth bowler for the second Test in Delhi next Friday.
The decision to go into the Nagpur series opener with only four frontline bowlers has turned out to be a dud one – Marnus Labuschagne was picked off at ease for 24 runs from his five overs of leg-spin while Renshaw’s ineffective offies went for seven from the sole over he sent down.
Nathan Lyon brought up an unwanted century in runs conceded but also nearly added a half-century in the number of overs bowled with 49. Murphy was also bowled into the dirt due to Pat Cummins only having four viable options, sending down 47 overs in his first foray into Test cricket.
Green still needs to prove his fitness for the second Test after six weeks out with a finger injury while Head, with his handy off-spinners, could be in line for a quick recall after his surprise omission with Renshaw and Handscomb both failing to fire with the bat.
Mitchell Starc (broken finger) and Josh Hazlewood (Achilles) are likely to be available but even though Delhi is expected to not be quite the raging turner that Nagpur has been, Australia will probably only recall Starc at Scott Boland’s expense.
And some catching practice couldn’t go astray too. Boland dropped a sitter in the outfield which should have brought Shami’s cameo to an end on six, following on from dropped catches at slip on day two from Steve Smith.
“They’re the moments you have to win when you’re behind in the game,” former Australia wicketkeeper Brad Haddin said on Fox Cricket.
“If they take those catches all of a sudden you might only be 140 behind, then if you bat well, you’re still in the game.”
Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja deservedly won man of the match for his efforts with bat and ball in the first Test.
He also hit the jackpot with match referee Andy Pycroft with the Zimbabwean fining Jadeja 25% of his match fee and pinging him one demerit point for “displaying conduct that is contrary to the spirit of the game”.
Jadeja was caught receiving a substance from Mohammed Siraj’s palm during his five-wicket haul in Australia’s first innings and appeared to rub it onto the index finger of his left, spinning hand as he gripped the ball before the start of the 46th over.
Indian team management claimed it was a soothing cream to help manage the spinning finger on his hand – if there was nothing to hide then why did he not alert the umpires that he needed this treatment.
In the age of one-year bans being dished out for sandpaper being used on a ball to promote reverse swing, you would think players would be on the front foot to ensure there could be no claims of impropriety when it comes to foreign substances being used while bowling.
Because he accepted the slap on the wrists from Pycroft, there was no need under ICC rules for Jadeja to froit the referee to explain his actions.
According to an ICC statement, “in reaching his decision to sanction the player along with the Level 1 sanction he imposed, the match referee was satisfied that the cream was applied to the finger purely for medical purposes”.
For a player whose IPL salary alone earns him around $1 million a season, the 25% deduction in his match fee will be paid using the spare change between the seats of his luxury car – he reportedly owns a couple of Audis, a BMW and a Rolls Royce so he should be able to scrounge up the money for the fine.