Australia must solve their batting woes if they are to avoid letting another team make history in their own backyard, says All Out Cricket’s Australian correspondent Kirby Meehan.
Last Australian summer, England went Down Under knowing they had their best chance of claiming a series win over Australia in Australia for 24 years. They did it, and emphatically at that. A couple of weeks back New Zealand crossed the Tasman confident they could claim a first Test win in their neighbour’s backyard for 26 years. They did that too, in dramatic style.
Now it’s India’s turn to arrive at what used to be an impenetrable fortress, and you know what? They fancy their chances of turning over Michael Clarke’s side and claiming their first ever Test series win on Australian soil.
The articles and blogs written about the demise of Australia’s batting have been getting repetitive of late for one simple reason: they keep doing the same thing! Australia lost to New Zealand in Hobart thanks to a batting collapse when they should have won at a canter, having just a few weeks previously thrown away a commanding position at Newlands in spectacular fashion. And this isn’t a recent phenomenon either; their batsmen’s struggles against the moving ball have been evident and well documented for quite some time. It’s about time it was dealt with.
Fortunately, recently appointed coach Mickey Arthur agrees. He has identified some of the problem batsmen and told them to pack up their swags and tents and high-tail it off to batting camp, where I imagine they will boil gruel in billy cans over a camp fire by night and test their mettle against swing bowling by day. At least I hope so, because India never fail to rouse themselves for a battle against the Aussies and, like England and New Zealand, they sense history in the making.
India aren’t without their own problems as they prepare for the Boxing Day Test. Injuries have left them with a set of inexperienced bowlers, but included in that bunch is fiery paceman Umesh Yadav, who will be relishing the opportunity to bowl on pitches which should offer pace and bounce. Zaheer Khan makes a welcome return from injury and MS Dhoni will be mightily relieved to have the wily left-armer back to spearhead his attack.
Australia’s own bowling, despite being just as inexperienced as India’s, is its strong suit. They will be missing teenage paceman Pat Cummins and Mitchell Johnson due to injury, but Peter Siddle, James Pattinson and Mitchell Starc all performed admirably against the Black Caps. An Indian batting line-up featuring Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar and Australia’s nemesis Laxman represent a much sterner test for the Aussie paceman, however, while Nathan Lyon will also have his hands full against a side so accomplished against spin.
Both sides have injury problems and raw bowling attacks; both sides have recent battle scars in Test cricket and both have experienced batting line-ups, although, as discussed, Australia’s has proved their Achilles heel in recent times. Allied with Australia’s unpredictability of late, this series is a difficult one to call and much will depend on whether Arthur’s boot camp can rejuvenate Australia’s floundering batsman. If not, India could well be the third side to make history on Australian soil within the space of a year.
Kirby Meehan is a displaced Aussie who threw her weight behind the Australian team, for good or bad, when she started the blog Thoughts from the Dustbin. You can follow her on Twitter and on her Facebook page.
Click here to read Kirby’s thoughts on the dilemmas facing the Australian selectors.
India Sense History In The Making Down Under
Australia must solve their batting woes if they are to avoid letting another team make history in their own backyard, says All Out Cricket’s Australian correspondent Kirby Meehan.
Last Australian summer, England went Down Under knowing they had their best chance of claiming a series win over Australia in Australia for 24 years. They did it, and emphatically at that. A couple of weeks back New Zealand crossed the Tasman confident they could claim a first Test win in their neighbour’s backyard for 26 years. They did that too, in dramatic style.
Now it’s India’s turn to arrive at what used to be an impenetrable fortress, and you know what? They fancy their chances of turning over Michael Clarke’s side and claiming their first ever Test series win on Australian soil.
The articles and blogs written about the demise of Australia’s batting have been getting repetitive of late for one simple reason: they keep doing the same thing! Australia lost to New Zealand in Hobart thanks to a batting collapse when they should have won at a canter, having just a few weeks previously thrown away a commanding position at Newlands in spectacular fashion. And this isn’t a recent phenomenon either; their batsmen’s struggles against the moving ball have been evident and well documented for quite some time. It’s about time it was dealt with.
Fortunately, recently appointed coach Mickey Arthur agrees. He has identified some of the problem batsmen and told them to pack up their swags and tents and high-tail it off to batting camp, where I imagine they will boil gruel in billy cans over a camp fire by night and test their mettle against swing bowling by day. At least I hope so, because India never fail to rouse themselves for a battle against the Aussies and, like England and New Zealand, they sense history in the making.
India aren’t without their own problems as they prepare for the Boxing Day Test. Injuries have left them with a set of inexperienced bowlers, but included in that bunch is fiery paceman Umesh Yadav, who will be relishing the opportunity to bowl on pitches which should offer pace and bounce. Zaheer Khan makes a welcome return from injury and MS Dhoni will be mightily relieved to have the wily left-armer back to spearhead his attack.
Australia’s own bowling, despite being just as inexperienced as India’s, is its strong suit. They will be missing teenage paceman Pat Cummins and Mitchell Johnson due to injury, but Peter Siddle, James Pattinson and Mitchell Starc all performed admirably against the Black Caps. An Indian batting line-up featuring Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar and Australia’s nemesis Laxman represent a much sterner test for the Aussie paceman, however, while Nathan Lyon will also have his hands full against a side so accomplished against spin.
Both sides have injury problems and raw bowling attacks; both sides have recent battle scars in Test cricket and both have experienced batting line-ups, although, as discussed, Australia’s has proved their Achilles heel in recent times. Allied with Australia’s unpredictability of late, this series is a difficult one to call and much will depend on whether Arthur’s boot camp can rejuvenate Australia’s floundering batsman. If not, India could well be the third side to make history on Australian soil within the space of a year.
Kirby Meehan is a displaced Aussie who threw her weight behind the Australian team, for good or bad, when she started the blog Thoughts from the Dustbin. You can follow her on Twitter and on her Facebook page.
Click here to read Kirby’s thoughts on the dilemmas facing the Australian selectors.