Smith reinvention can rejuvenate Australian batting

Josh Hazlewood’s stunning strikes to cut the heart out of Pakistan’s batting in the final half hour of Jane McGrath Day could not totally obscure the hard questions posed by another underwhelming Australian innings.

Australia’s slide to 299 all out against Pakistan was their lowest first innings tally at the SCG in more than a decade. An indicator, too, that in a post-David Warner world it may not be a bad thing to reshuffle the batting ahead of India’s visit next summer.

Steve Smith and David Warner.Credit: Chris Hopkins

A little over 30 years ago, entering a world championship bout with the West Indies, Australia’s selectors shook up their batting order by dropping Dean Jones for the brash, young Damien Martyn.

In isolation the decision did not work. The series was narrowly lost, Martyn was then dropped himself, and many Victorians have always considered it a harsh call on Jones and his final Test batting average of 46.55 from 52 matches.

But it worked as a dose of snuff to the rest of the batting order. Especially for the Waugh twins, who would go on to form the core of the team that did usurp the Caribbean side and become globally dominant in subsequent years.

Well as Pat Cummins’ team have functioned over the past few years to assume world’s best status, there has been a perceptible downward trend in batting performance since the first two Tests of last year’s Ashes series.

In the absence of big scores from Usman Khawaja and Travis Head, Australia’s two most reliable players of the past two years, the home side’s batting has looked a little on the stale side. They have been confronted by a pair of excellent cricket pitches in Melbourne and Sydney.

The symbolism of Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne falling in successive overs to the vagaries of the SCG deck’s deterioration - Smith caught at short cover after the ball stopped on him, Labuschagne bowled by a beautiful off-break out of the footmarks - was to show they have lately been unable to produce the consistent runs of their peaks.

With Warner making his bow from the team at the end of the SCG Test, the selection panel now chaired by George Bailey will need a different formula for India’s visit. To stick with the same batting order would be one option.

Marcus Harris waits in the wings as the most obvious opening candidate, having served as the team’s backup top order player everywhere but South Asia. But he is both older and an inferior domestic performer to Cameron Green, the young allrounder who lost his place to Mitchell Marsh during the Ashes.

Marsh has been the most consistent Australian batter this series - he again passed 50 on day three at the SCG. After Hazlewood scythed through Pakistan’s middle order in the final half hour that should still be enough to secure victory in four days.

The final session, in which 11 wickets fell for just 78 runs, was testament to the way the pitch’s change in character had sped up the match. The avalanche offered rich entertainment for a crowd of 37,129, meaning a total of 101,072 spectators had filed through the SCG gates in just three days.

But the best top order balance for those spectators to watch against India may well be that offered up by Shane Watson. He has spoken publicly this week about the possibility of giving Smith a fresh challenge by promoting him to open alongside Khawaja.

That move would allow for the return of Green to the team at four, the sort of position he is more than likely to claim anyway whenever Smith finishes. Moreover, it would help smooth the evolution of the team from the generation of Warner and Smith to that of Head and Labuschagne.

Steve Smith after his dismissal on day three.Credit: AP

Strengthening the selectors’ case against Jones was the fact he had failed to have an impact on either of the previous two home Test series against India and England. And it is not as though Smith and Labuschagne flourished against India here in 2020-21. On the contrary, their inability to make big scores early in the series gave the team coached by Ravi Shastri a chance.

“All options will be considered,” coach Andrew McDonald has said. “We’re not going to make the decision until the deadline, which would be the West Indies game. But Cameron Green, as a discussion around who are the best six batters, would definitely be in the discussion.”

Unlike 1992, Warner’s retirement decision means that the selectors do not need to drop anyone in order to freshen up their batting. In Green, they also have a young player every bit as promising as Martyn was.

And as Sean Connery’s captain Ramius quipped at the end of The Hunt for Red October, “A little revolution now and then is a healthy thing, don’t you think?”

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