Something was amiss, right from the time they began their World Cup campaign last Sunday. The Indian spinners stifled them under Chennai’s raging sun, and when the time came to land the knockout blow, the Aussies dropped Virat Kohli. The evident lack of killer instinct and not going for the jugular are traits Australia have never not possessed; this unit however, seems to be battling imposter syndrome, and I’m afraid, it might just take a miracle for the five-time champions to make it to the final four.
In 10 matches, six 300-plus totals have been amassed, to go with a score of 400-plus. Australia, in a huge contrast, have managed 199 and 177. Do the math. Even Sri Lanka, who had to win the qualifiers in July to seal a World Cup berth, have knocked off 300 twice. But the OG bad boys have looked clueless, jaded, lacklustre and short of answers. Despite the injuries leading up to the tournament and some questionable selections, witnessing Australia’s overwhelming defeat is far from your typical cricket experience.
The rut starts at the core. For starters, Australia entered the World Cup with just one specialist spinner in Adam Zampa. Glenn Maxwell, a part-timer, is the only finger spinner in their squad for the biggest stage in India.
With the injured Ashton Agar getting ruled out, Australia picked Marnus Labuschagne, another batter, as his replacement. And now they’re paying the price for it. Zampa went wicketless for 53 against India and bled figures of 1/70 against the Proteas. In fact, Maxwell outperformed him, finishing with 2/34.
In the rarest of rare sights, Australia appeared under pressure. Don’t believe it? Look no further than what Pat Cummins had to say after losing the toss and the awkward tangle Josh Inglis found himself in dropping Temba Bavuma.
What is it that Australia are doing wrong?
Outside of the spin dilemma, only four of their top seven are proper batters – David Warner, Steve Smith, Labuschagne and Maxwell. Mitchell Marsh, for all the explosivity that he has displayed, is an all-rounder. And here’s where the situation worsens. Despite including only 4 batters, Australia don’t have five specialist bowlers either. Neither Australia’s bowling nor batting line-up is complete, and while this squad is ideal for T20s, It lacks the patience and the calibre required to stay steady between overs 25 to 40. That Cricket Australia added Labuschagne for a spinner shows that the belief in Australia’s top order has been shaken. Four batters, one keeper batter, two all-rounders. Not sure if that’s going to win you the World Cup.
Just the ridiculously high number of batting collapses Australia have endured this year sums up the sorry state of their batters. Between March and October, the Aussie batting has crumbled as many as 7 times. They lost 8/59 and 8/60 against India in March, 8/60 and 8/69 against South Africa – a series they lost 0-2 – and another 4/40 and 7/80 vs India, before yesterday’s 6 wickets for 70 runs. Grim. The temptation of playing all-rounders – Marsh and Cameron Green in this case – is understandable but there’s a very thin line of difference between them and a specialist top-order or middle-order batter.
