Australia v India 2014: Aussies’ batting department stocks look rather thin, writes Richard Hinds

FOR those looking beyond this Test series and the World Cup, you could be forgiven for wondering if there are many runs left in the warehouse.

Boxing Day Test Australia v India at MCG, Day 1- Shaun Marsh walks off after getting out. , Melbourne. 26th December 2014. Picture: Colleen Petch.

IN the absence of Michael Clarke and Mitchell Marsh, and after a rare failure by David Warner, suddenly we were not so much watching an Australian innings as a batting stocktake.

The outcome? Steven Smith is carrying the supposedly onerous burden of captaincy like an elephant might carry a toothpick and Chris Rogers’ reliability continues to defy carbon-dating.

Otherwise, for those looking beyond this series and the World Cup, you could be forgiven for wondering if there are many runs left in the warehouse.

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Shaun Marsh (32) again failed to make the most of a good start although, on the positive side of the ledger, he is at least making one. Debutant Joe Burns (13) looked so confident at the crease there was a startled murmur from the crowd when he under-edged a pull.

A note of caution. Optimistic assessments were made of Usman Khawaja and Rob Quiney in recent years based on similarly scant evidence. Given their Test careers are already looking like trivia questions we need to see much more of Burns before casting judgment.

But regardless how Marsh and Burns perform there is the reassuring thought both are, for now, merely filling the sneakers of Clarke and M. Marsh. Inevitably it was the eternal incumbent Shane Watson whose promising but unfulfilled innings created most conjecture.

As Watson pushed, nudged and occasionally swiped his way toward his half century, you might normally have felt this was a batsman labouring to retain his place.

But before this Test it had been made clear the Australians were no more inclined to play without their all-rounder come opener come No. 3 than to play without stumps.

So you can only conclude that, in the places where it matters most, Watson’s scratchy 52 will be considered a decent score made in trying circumstances. Not, as harsher judges might conclude, an opportunity to make a much bigger score squandered.

In their relentless search to find reasons to justify picking Watson the selectors will no doubt argue that having shared a partnership of 115 with Chris Rogers after arriving at the wicket at 1-0, he played a significant part in Australia’s revival.

Shaun Marsh failed to convert his start, dismissed for 32. Picture: Colleen Petch

They might also award points for valour. Watson was hit in the face by a Mitchell Starc bouncer three days before the Test, a traumatic event for batsman and bowler.

Yet if Watson was admirably resolute against the short ball despite his pre-game scare, the less forgiving might counter the Indian bowler’s eagerness to test his nerve led them to waste the swinging ball that had brought Warner undone with a barrage of half-trackers.

Watson was also the chief beneficiary of some Indian fielding so slapstick Benny Hill provided the soundtrack. The Sydney Swans didn’t have as many touches in the AFL grand final as Shikar Dhawan after Watson edged to second slip. Yet, somehow, he still dropped the catch.

Watson was then 37 and seemed fated to make the big score that would vindicate the vast faith shown in him. Instead he swiped at and missed at one of Ravi Ashwin’s darts, was adjudged LBW and didn’t have recourse to the DRS — which, incidentally, would have sent him packing on “umpire’s call’’ anyway.

Brad Haddin gave his six year-old son Zac a batting lesson on Christmas Day. On recent form the roles might have been reversed. So the wicketkeeper’s unbeaten 23 in an unbroken partnership of 43 with Smith was something of a relief.

But mostly it was left to Smith to lead the way. Which he did with such inevitable authority it is already hard to recall the days when his fidgety mannerisms caused heart flutters in the stands.

Thanks to a handful of stars and stalwarts and a long tail, Australia have been batting well enough to win. Yet the Boxing Day stocktake suggests they don’t bat deep.

Originally published as Australia v India 2014: Aussies’ batting department stocks look rather thin, writes Richard Hinds