Withering Vigour of Australian Cricket!

Probably Australian legends like Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne have heart aches when they see this Australian side performing like a bunch of school boys. It’s hard to believe how the balance has shifted so drastically from one side to other. During the 90’s and early 2000 the Australians were real cricketing giants and the English simply couldn’t compete. Today the story is exactly the opposite . Today the Aussies take the drubbing and the English batter them black and blue. With yesterday’s test defeat Australia have now 6 consecutive test losses which they last experienced in 1984-85. The Australian Cricket has taken some serious beating after the golden Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting era.  The inconsistent and misfiring squad has lot to deal with. The underperforming batting line up leaves all the burden on the tail enders and thus affecting their efficiency with the ball. On top of that Mickey Aurthur’s claim of a feud between Clarke and Watson is definitely playing its role at the back of the minds of both the players. The fact that both these players don’t see eye to eye has become a matter of concern in the Australian camp and the English side is definitely using it well.

Shane Watson has been very repetitive in the way he throws his wicket away. He scores a fast 20, hangs around for a while and then gives his wicket away. Dots and boundaries comprise 86 percent of his innings as per the stats shown during the lunch time.  His dismissals in both the innings were quite similar in fashion.  He took a big stride forward in both the situations where he managed to nick the ball to the slips in the first innings and missed the ball in the second innings which went on to hit his pads and was a straight forward LBW decision for the umpire. It was noticed that Watson who generally covers his wicket was standing little towards the leg side in the second innings clearly trying to keep his front leg out of the way but the consequences were quite similar to the first innings. Watson trying to change his technique is a clear indication that his recent failures are playing around with his head and its necessary that he finds his form back soon to help his as well as his team’s cause. Rogers, Hughes Smith all were big disappointments in the match. Though Clarke and Khawaja tried to show some intent and had a good post lunch session, they couldn’t carry it forward and soon fell after their respective half centuries. Looking at the fact that the Australian side would have failed to cross the 200 mark had there not been a partnership between Pattinson and Siddle at first and then between Pattinson and Harris for 9^th and 10^th wickets respectively was really disheartening. The Australian batting line up has shown no signs of fighting spirit or intent up till now in this series.  They were heavily punished for the batting madness they displayed in both the innings.

While the batting line up for Australia has been consistently disappointing, the bowling line up has been very inconsistent.  Twice in the match they had scalped three English wickets at a score less than 30 and still failed to humble the English batting line up. Partnerships managed to grow even after early blows.  While Bell was phenomenal in the first innings, a scintillating performance by Joe Root in the second innings spearheaded a big victory for England in the second Ashes test match. The failure of Australian bowlers to keep on the momentum may be attributed to the extra pressure they face because of their team’s misfiring batting order. As such once the English batsmen start firing, the Aussie bowlers completely lose their head as well as the rhythm. The fine line of difference between both the team has been that while someone or the other stood there for England even after early blows the case was not the same for Australia. Bell had bailed England out with his centuries both at Nottingham in the second innings and a century at Lords in the first innings with major contributions from Trott and Bairstow, Root took the baton in the second innings with Bell chipping in again with a blistering 74 and a valuable 38 by Bresnan.

Lack of experience in the Australian side against an all-round experienced English side contributes further to the imbalance between both the sides. The average age of the English side is 29 with all its major players somewhere around that age with exceptions of Root and Bairstow whereas the average age of the Australian side is 28 even after the presence of 35 years old Rogers and Haddin while both Watson and Clarke are aged 32 years each. On the other side we have Agar who is just 19 with just 11 First Class matches, Smith(24) and Pattinson(23) who are the younger members of the Australian squad. The heavy imbalance is quite evident in the Australian side itself and when the seniors fail to deliver, the younger generation just follows the suit. And thus we got the whole bunch of underperforming lads who fail to stand up to the big event. Though the flamboyant English side has less things to bother about, they still have room for improvement. Captain Cook has just one half century in this series and he must be looking for a big score to get back on song. An injured Peitersen will be another concern. Peitersen has failed to deliver as of now and his injury will add extra pressure to the English side to find a suitable replacement.

Darren Lehmann has to make sure that he gets the right balance in the team, take some bold measures and if required bench the senior players. It can’t get any worse. Probably they will lose 5-0. At least he can train his young guns, give them some exposure and prepare them for future because the way this Australian side is performing a clean sweep looks quite imminent. 9 times before this England had taken a 2-0 lead in the Ashes and 8 times out of that they managed to keep the urn with themselves. Only once Australia had managed to steal the urn when they bounced back 3-2 to win the Ashes.  The Australians might be hoping some similar kind of miracle but it can come only if the team decided to get inspired and perform.