Australian ODI player ratings: the good, bad and indifferent from the series loss in India
It was a mixed tour for Australia’s ODI side, from sublime batting to ridiculous run-outs. But who cemented their place in the team and who will return home worrying about their competition?
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Australia ended their three match ODI series in India on the wrong end of a 2-1 scoreline after the hosts bounced back from a drubbing in Mumbai with two emphatic victories.
The tourists’ new look white ball side showed plenty of spirit and put on some fine individual performances, with Aaron Finch, David Warner and Steve Smith all posting centuries.
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But a lack of middle order fire power and a mixed bowling return ultimately cost them.
Whose places are safe in the side and who will come under pressure? We rate the performances of each of the players who were given playing time in the subcontinent over the last week ...
DAVID WARNER 8
Here’s hoping wife Candice gives her husband the green light to open the batting at the 2023 World Cup in India.
It took Manish Pandey climbing into orbit to remove Warner in Rajkot courtesy of a spectacular catch, although that unbeaten century in Mumbai ensured it was going to be a healthy tour.
Warner’s fifth century of the summer left him cramping and with tight knees as he became the fastest Aussie to 5000 runs, breaking Dean Jones’ 28-year-old record.
Only Hashim Amla, Sir Vivian Richards and Virat Kohli raced to the milestone faster.
AARON FINCH 8.5
The Mumbai Massacre of India’s bowlers was turbocharged by Finch’s rollicking start.
Dined out on Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami overpitching and devoured a meaty run chase without losing a wicket.
Struggled to pick Kuldeep but that was it, and looked on again in Bangalore … only to be run-out after a miscommunication with Steve Smith. Clever captain looked furious at Smith and his next challenge will be leading Smith and David Warner back to Cape Town next month.
Won all three tosses, too, and overturned Ashton Agar’s lbw shout on KL Rahul with a bold review.
STEVE SMITH 10
“It’s sort of been a bit of my summer, hasn’t it? I’ve sat there watching a lot of cricket.”
That was Steve Smith after he didn’t get a bat in Mumbai. Well, when he got a bat it was worth the wait.
Smith’s 98 and 131 – his first ODI ton in three years – saved Australia from total humiliation in the final two games, much like his 85 in last year’s World Cup semi-final.
The 360-degree batsman blends his T20 and Test skills beautifully in the 50-over game. He can start as slow as a tortoise and then enter hare mode, catching up in a flash of funky shots.
MARNUS LABUSCHAGNE 7.5
Should apply for a job at Westpac because he is such a good banker.
Labuschagne’s only unsettling moment came when Steve Waugh twice called him ‘Marcus’ in the cap presentation.
As busy at the crease as the hundreds of ground staff that pull India’s venues into shape in the final 24 hours. Three continents, three ticks for Marnus –the swinging Dukes ball at the Ashes, a home Test summer and now India in India in his white-ball debut. The summer of Marnus rolled into an Indian winter and you can lock him in as Australia’s new No.4 for the 2023 World Cup in India.
ALEX CAREY 5.5
The wicket-keeper’s ability to strike the ball beautifully from ball one is out of the Adam Gilchrist playbook, he just needs to convert cameos into killer knocks.
One of the best blokes in world cricket – Justin Langer said he could marry one of his daughters – is also a joy to have in any squad.
Remarkably, he went seven white-ball games without a bat due to Australia’s batting dominance.
ASHTON TURNER 3
Here are the numbers since Turner’s furious 84 not-out (43) to win an ODI in Mohali last year.
He is averaging 3.5 runs in Sheffield Shield – and got dropped by WA as captain – made three ducks in the IPL and is averaging 16 across all formats and at every level.
Meanwhile Glenn Maxwell’s monstrous BBL numbers read an average of 68.2 at a strike-rate of 163.9, with some handy powerplay wickets sprinkled on top has him breathing down Turner’s neck.
Maxwell paid the price for a World Cup campaign that never got going, and Turner boasts a smart cricket brain and runs spritely between the pegs, but was he really in the right form to earn selection? And who would India prefer to be bowling at?
ASHTON AGAR 6.5
What was better? The acrobatic catch (completed by Starc) that dismissed Virat Kohli in game two, or the pair of dismissals against the versatile of KL Rahul?
Don’t forget about the maiden in Mumbai that put the brakes on India as it lost 4-30.
Agar was the best bowler in Bangalore, but is he a long-term No.7?
The jury is out for a man of moments rather than matches. Side note: What a farce that Starc, and not Agar, was credited with the Kohli catch.
PAT CUMMINS 7
Bowled as tight as piano wire in the first two games and then as loose as a toddler’s shoelace in the decider.
A pair of identical golden ducks was also disappointing as Mohammad Shami castled Cummins with twin yorkers.
Finch conceded during last year’s World Cup that Cummins – long lauded as a quasi allrounder – had lost confidence with the bat, and that still appears to be the case.
MITCHELL STARC 5.5
Virat Kohli feared that Starc’s revised action had recaptured maximum swing, but India’s top order had little trouble swinging the left-armer into the fence.
It was an expensive series in a series where bat dominated ball.
ADAM ZAMPA 7.5
The Kohli Killer lived up to expectations by removing India’s captain in the first two games. How can you not love Zampa’s chutzpah? He is almost at his most threatening after leaking a boundary, because the attacking leg-spinner comes even harder the next ball.
Kohli is in awe off Zampa’s overflowing self-belief and, despite Nathan Lyon’s World Cup rise, he is the frontline spinner with the white ball.
KANE RICHARDSON 6
The vegan said on the cusp of the series that he was happy to be the next man in, stuck behind Australia’s Test quicks.
But Richardson played the first two games and looked sharp with his variations and tricks at the death. Then there was his blazing 24 not-out off just 11 balls in Rajkot, albeit when India fans were already celebrating a comfortable maiden win in Rjakot.
JOSH HAZLEWOOD 6.5
Small sample but an impressive spell from one of world cricket’s most consistent bowlers. Hazlewood has entered bizarro world – out of the Test team due to a hamstring injury, unlikely to make it back in Bangladesh and yet in the white-ball team – and it is pleasing, given there are three World Cups in the next four years.
Regardless of the ball colour this bloke is hard to hit and he will now enjoy a few extra days off before joining Sydney Sixers on Saturday.
Originally published as Australian ODI player ratings: the good, bad and indifferent from the series loss in India