Urgent concerns for selectors after batting groundhog day at SCG
Bad light stopped play early at a stormy SCG, but the lights had gone out for Australia’s batsmen long before as they toiled to 6-236 on a day when Test greats lamented a mistake-riddled performance.
New venue, same old story.
The desperate search for a batting anchorman remains a matter of urgent concern for selectors after the top order again teased but failed to produce the marathon innings that would at least confirm Australia is heading in the right direction.
That Marcus Harris’ 79 on day three was the highest score by an Australian batsman this series stands out as a telling statistic given India have made seven scores higher, including five hundreds.
Bad light stopped play early at a stormy SCG, but the lights had gone out for Australia’s batsmen long before, as they struggled to 6-236 – and still an overwhelming 386 runs behind on the first innings.
Peter Handscomb will resume on 28 not out and has earned the chance to prove his critics wrong on day four after the under-pressure right-hander gutsed it out for 91 balls alongside the ever-impressive Pat Cummins (25 not out).
Australia’s senior batsmen Usman Khawaja (27) and Shaun Marsh (8) were again cruelly outpointed by their Indian counterparts as Fox Cricket expert Mark Waugh bemoaned the fact all wickets to fall had been thrown away.
Fellow Test great Ricky Ponting also highlighted the high error rate from Australian batsmen who he says have been guilty of too many simple mistakes this series.
“I got a start, a few of us got a start but none of us went on for a big score,” said Marcus Harris post-match.
“So it’s pretty simple to work out what went wrong. We’re still fighting.”
There is a feeling in the Australian camp that the return of Steve Smith and David Warner in three months’ time can restore experience and inspiration to the dressing room, but Waugh was concerned about the here and now.
“Five dismissals, and none of them have been deliveries that deserved a wicket,” said Waugh before Australian skipper Tim Paine was hoodwinked by a wrong’un from Kuldeep Yadav.
“Yes, there’s pressure and little things happening. But overall, each batsman would look at them and go, ‘that’s not good enough.’”
Marnus Labuschagne showed his character, coming out in the face of much criticism to make a solid 38 in the pressure-cooker spot of No.3.
However, his dismissal was just another Australian departure in between the 20-40 run mark – a barrier the Cricket Australia high performance unit had set as a goal for batsmen in October last year, but not where the coaching staff want the bar set.
Batting coach Graeme Hick offered no excuses in an interview on Channel 7.
“You’ve got to do it for long periods of time. Pujara is a prime example of that, someone who has gone out there and stuck to a very simple game plan but has been very difficult to remove,” said Hick.
“Losing wickets in and out of sessions or breaks in play. All these little things are all discussed.
“Players need to get better at those little things. In terms of dismissals once we’re in, guys just need to learn to pay more attention wanting to spend more time out there.
“Today is maybe the best wicket we’ve had all series to bat on and we’ve lost five wickets in that middle session. And you can’t say any of them to really good deliveries. That’s pretty disappointing.
“But in a way it sums up a lot of the issues we’re facing at the moment and we need to get better at it.”
There has been some lamenting from the Australian camp about the style of pitches this summer largely suiting India, but Ponting said batsmen were in control of their own destiny.
“As far as I'm concerned, this batting group through this series has made way too many mistakes," Ponting told cricket.com.au.
"Technical, mental, whatever those mistakes may be, they’ve made a lot of mistakes.
"It hasn't necessarily been the first mistake they've made either that's led to them getting out.
"They've made a lot of mistakes then eventually got out.”
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Originally published as Urgent concerns for selectors after batting groundhog day at SCG
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