Ian Chappell says series against South Africa and India provides Australia with plenty of motivation
ONE-DAY and Test series against South Africa and India provides Justin Langer’s new-look Australian team the perfect opportunity to regain confidence and redemption, writes Ian Chappell.
Opinion
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The eminently wise Richie Benaud pronounced cricket “the most controversial game of them all.”
Not that Benaud ever needed vindication but the last few days of mayhem and madness in Australian cricket have rather proved his point.
In a week in which Australia and South Africa - the two teams which precipitated the shenanigans - prepared to face off, the Cricket Australia board chairman finally fell on his sword following the release of the damning Longstaff report that made his continuation in the role a farce.
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With David Peever trying to bluff his way through the tangled mess but eventually capitulating, the players can now get back on the field and hopefully ensure the spotlight is pointed in a different direction.
Amid all the doom and gloom surrounding Australia’s poor performances following the ignominious ‘sandpaper affair’, it’s gone unnoticed that South Africa’s batting is every bit as fragile as the home side.
The absence of AB de Villiers through retirement and Hashim Amla because of injury, is every bit as debilitating for South Africa as Australia’s loss through suspension of Steve Smith and David Warner.
The other similarity between these two foes is that they both have an exceedingly strong attack. The 50-over arm-wrestle will come down to which team bats best.
Australia will be hopeful that newly appointed skipper Aaron Finch and batting prospects Travis Head and D’Arcy Short produce their best form to not only clinch the ODI series but boost home fans’ morale for the upcoming Indian Test series.
And then there’s Shaun Marsh.
Some fans will be hoping — for the same reasons — that he rediscovers his best form and others will be despairing that success will afford him another opportunity in the Test side.
For those demanding a clean out of the failures from the UAE loss to Pakistan, they should understand that dropping players is the easy part of selection.
When a selector is faced with the dilemma of omitting a batsman averaging in the mid-thirties in first-class cricket and replacing him with a similarly performing player, the team is in trouble.
The frustrating fact for the selection panel is the older Marsh is more talented than his pursuers and in these troubled times has the advantage of having made high-class runs at international level.
Marsh’s problem — the distinct peaks and troughs in form — are the tell-tale sign of a player who loses confidence quickly. A series of good scores in the ODI contests could see his confidence return, resulting in a profitable Test series against India.
And just as the team which bats best in the ODI jousts with South Africa will win, the same reward is on offer in the Tests against India.
If Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood remain fit for the duration, then the four-Test series against India should be close. India possesses the sole high-class batsman in Virat Kohli but he’ll be fully tested by Australia’s best attack.
If the Australian bowlers can keep Kohli in check and the batsmen find playing in familiar conditions to their liking, then India’s best ever chance to win in this country can be foiled. The Australian bowlers are likely to feel frustrated at times when the batting fails but they’ll do well to heed the sentiments of former West Indies fast bowler Andy Roberts.
When the Windies were at their marauding best, the defiant Roberts announced; “It doesn’t matter what the opposition bowl us out for, we’ll bowl them out for less.”
For their part, India’s strong and varied bowling attack will be buoyed by the knowledge that Australia’s batting line-up has imploded spectacularly on numerous occasions.
It’s also crucial for India that the pace attack which prospered in England, where the ball swung and seamed, enjoys the same success in entirely different conditions.
The one unknown that could have a positive impact for Australia is Usman Khawaja’s fitness. If he returns displaying the form and determination he exhibited in the UAE, Khawaja could provide the runs that would give the Australian attack the leeway they require in hunting down the twenty wickets required for victory.
In a summer that has the potential to be either exhilarating or exhausting for Australian fans, the home side will have two driving forces.
Against South Africa it’ll be a personal crusade to exact retribution for their recent disastrous tour, with India it’ll be the desire to cast aside the tumultuous aftermath of the Cape Town brainfade.