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Former Australian captain Michael Clarke has torn into the team in the wake of their disastrous 134-run loss to South Africa at the World Cup, taking aim at the selectors and captain Pat Cummins in particular.
Australia sit second-last on the tournament table after their second heavy loss in succession, with their batting a particular concern after being bowled out for under 200 by both South Africa and in their opening defeat to India.
Speaking on Sky Sports Radio’s Big Sports Breakfast, Clarke, who led Australia to the 2015 World Cup title on home soil, was scathing of the decision to drop wicketkeeper Alex Carey for Josh Inglis, with Cummins also heavily criticised for his tactics in the field.
“I don’t know how they drop Alex Carey after one game, like what’s the point of taking him? And now what do you do? You reinstate him? Bring him back?” Clarke wondered.
“You can’t look at the first game against India and go. ‘OK, Alex Carey is the problem – drop him’. That’s the other thing I think that frustrated me when I saw that line-up.
“I thought, hang on, you’re pretty much blaming Alex Carey for our performance against India.”
As for Inglis, who managed just five runs and was clunky with the gloves, Clarke had no doubt as to who of the two was the superior wicketkeeper.
“Last night he didn’t have a great night with the gloves – he dropped some balls early,” Clarke said of the Western Australian.
“I’ve got to be careful how I say this because I don’t know him and it’s not just about him. I just think Alex Carey is a better keeper. And I think we saw that in the first 10 overs of the game.”
As for Cummins, Clarke’s main gripe was his lack of aggressive tactics, particularly in allowing a century partnership for the opening wicket between Proteas pair Quinton de Kock and Temba Bavuma.
According to the former captain, Cummins should have turned to himself earlier in the innings to try and make the crucial breakthrough.
Marcus Stoinis interacts with umpire Joel Wilson after being dismissed. (Photo by Matthew Lewis-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)
“I don’t think he [Cummins] was aggressive enough. I don’t think he looked to take wickets,” Clarke said.
“The easiest way to slow scoring is to take wickets, yet we continue in Twenty20 cricket and one-day cricket [to] try to prevent runs.
“How is Pat Cummins not bowling in the first 10 overs? Or even if you’re going Glenn Maxwell, like we did, you’ve got to have a slip to the left hander. You’ve probably got to have a bat-pad to the right hander, like you’ve got to look to take wickets early.
“I love him and I’m more than happy for him to be captain but he’s got to do some work on that.”
For Clarke, the issues mostly stem from a lack of adequate preparation for the tournament – and not for the first time this year.
“We are not there at the moment – and honestly, no disrespect, but we haven’t been for a while,” Clarke said.
“The Twenty20 World Cup [in Australia last year], that’s [failing to reach the semi-finals] not OK. We’re better than that. It’s not OK.
Pat Cummins leads the Australian side off. (Photo by Matthew Lewis-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)
“Leaving England [for the Ashes], leveled series, is not OK. That series was ours for the taking.
“The way we lost to India in India… our preparation for that tournament? Not OK. Then winning the Test Championship – amazing. So that swept all this other stuff under the carpet. That’s not right.
“Now here, [in] our preparation for this World Cup, we won two games out of seven. We had a brilliant lead-in for this World Cup, an awesome amount of cricket, good competitive cricket.
“We should have turned up to India in our prime.”
In Clarke’s opinion, the team’s struggles could only get worse, with tough matches against Sri Lanka and Pakistan on the horizon that loom as must-win affairs already.
“We could still qualify with two losses, but I tell you now, Sri Lanka are going to be tough in those conditions,” Clarke said.
“That wicket spun. It was two-paced and it spun.
“We haven’t played Pakistan yet. We’ve got some really tough cricket ahead of us and if we play like this, we are not qualifying.
“I’m more worried about the sub-continent teams… if we’re getting shown up like that against South Africa, the spin in the sub-continent teams… we’ll be laughable.
“If we’re not careful, the conversation we’ve been having for the last three weeks about the Wallabies, in two weeks’ time we’ll be having that about Australian cricket.”
Australia takes on Sri Lanka in Lucknow on Monday night (AEDT) looking to get their campaign off and running at last.
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