Horror stat Australian fans won’t want to see

AUSSIE great Ian Chappell has blasted Australia’s cricketing trainwreck after a horror stat revealed a painful truth.

is there an excuse?

AUSTRALIAN batting collapses on the subcontinent are becoming part of the furniture in international cricket.

The Aussies slumped to a damning defeat in Dhaka this week after throwing away a massive head start in their chase-down of Bangladesh’s target of 265.

David Warner — who scored his first century on the subcontinent — was the visitors’ only redeeming factor on day four as they struggled to fight off the home side’s spinners. Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan dominated in the final two sessions, but it wasn’t too hard to find the Aussies’ kryptonite.

A loosely-played sweep shot from Usman Khawaja and a silly dismissal from Glenn Maxwell cost Australia dearly as they collapsed to their first loss to the Tigers in history.

“You’ve got to learn how to play spin bowling from a very young age, you’ve got to learn how to use your feet against good spinners,” former Aussie skipper and Channel Nine commentator Ian Chappell said as he blasted the Aussies after the game.

“I think some of the coaching is absolute rubbish … I suspect that there’s a lot of coaches there who get their knowledge out of a book rather from than personal experience.”

Back to the drawing board.

It’s now become glaringly obvious — Australia simply can’t handle the pressure of batting on dusty pitches. But what are the stats?

Over the last 10 years of Test matches played in Asia, Australia ranks at the absolute bottom of the list for the average amount of runs scored per wicket with 26.61 (via wwos.com).

Yep, you read that right.

Since 2007, Aussie cricketers have failed to score more runs per wicket than Zimbabwe (26.90), Bangladesh (27.98) and New Zealand (28.89).

India sits at the top of the list with 40.93, followed by Pakistan (37.65), Sri Lanka (36.89), South Africa (33.5), England (30.58) and the West Indies (30.56).

Chappell said the Aussies’ lack of preparation for the tour — thanks to an lengthy pay debacle throughout winter — seriously cost them in the first Test.

“Not having any real practice matches (or) matches that counted was always going to make it difficult,” he told Channel Nine.

AUSSIES COLLAPSE TO LAST-MINUTE SECRET WEAPON

Spin bowling guru Sunil Joshi, who only joined the Bangladesh camp last week, claims he’s found Australia’s Achilles heel.

The 47-year-old helped guide the Tigers’ three-pronged spin attack to a comfortable victory with a simple trick.

“There is one delivery that the Australians are struggling to pick since the India series,” he told cricket.com.au.

“I won’t say which one it is till the series ends because I don’t want the Aussies to come up with a counter-plan, but I picked it up when they were playing against India. I have told the Bangladesh bowlers to keep bowling that delivery and it’s working.”

Shakib Al Hasan and the rest of the Tigers’ spinners have a secret weapon.

HUSSEY’S PLEA TO SELECTORS

Former Aussie batsman Michael Hussey has urged selectors to stay with Usman Khawaja as long as possible despite a nightmarish return to the side.

The 30-year-old couldn’t have had a worse time at the crease in Dhaka after running himself out in the first innings for one and then following it up with a silly sweep shot in the second innings to be caught in close.

The effort left him with a total of two runs for the entire Test and had fans calling for his immediate axing.

All brain-fades aside, the Pakistani born left-hander still has a credible Test record with an average of 45.47 from 24 matches under the baggy green — and that’s what has Hussey convinced he’ll bounce back.

“You shouldn’t be judging someone on a couple of innings, and in one of those innings he was run-out,” Hussey said on The Unplayable Podcast.

“He hasn’t played any cricket for so long, so it’s going to take time for him to get back in and get up to speed with that match hardness. Even in the IPL he just sat on the bench the whole time, so it’s difficult and it’s going to take a little bit of time.”

This wasn’t a happy return.