Australia’s battling batting brigade may have had their final auditions before October’s tour of South Africa as the case for top-order change grew stronger even as they eye a redeeming victory over Bangladesh inside three or even two days.
As challenging as Shoriful Islam was on a Mackay surface likened to the Gabba in Saturday’s fading light, Australia’s brittleness was sure to have Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada licking their chops ahead of their arrival for three Tests against the World Test champions on early-season African wickets.
Mitchell Starc labelled the Great Barrier Reef Arene pitch as a “good day-one” track, offering no sympathy for his top-order teammates after they stumbled to 8-165 in reply to Bangladesh’s paltry 64. “I’ve played plenty at the MCG,” he said, referring to bowling on the ground’s formerly barren batter-friendly pitch.
Marnus Labuschagne, bowled for 4 by Shoriful, is facing the most scrutiny after again failing to put on the “big runs” asked of him by coach Andrew McDonald. Pat Cummins insisted on Friday that Australia’s No.3 looks as fluent as ever in the nets and in match simulations.
But there is clear disconnect when jeopardy is added into the equation. Simon Katich suggested he was in “no man’s land” from a technical perspective, while Ricky Ponting led the calls for him to be axed.
“I admire what they’re (selectors) trying to do to get him back to his best,” Ponting said on Seven of Labuschagne who is now averaging less than 25 from his past 43 innings. “But it’s been way too long now. I would have made the change at the start of this series.
“There’s some technical deficiency there, but he’s making the margin for error for the bowlers too great. He can’t score off the back foot, and if you can’t score off the back foot in Test cricket, batting becomes a hard game. Bowlers now know they can bowl anywhere from 10 metres to four metres on off stump and as wide as they want and he can’t hurt them.
“It’s well and truly time to have a look at somebody else.”
But Labuschagne is far from alone in failing to impress in the northern series.
Australia will be wondering whether the Travis Head opening experiment – a revelation against England’s pacey but wayward new-ball bowlers – has been exposed by Bangladesh’s more disciplined approach.
Cameron Green this week labelled Head’s continued role at the top as a “selfless” move but selectors must now weigh up whether that has robbed them of one of their most damaging middle-order weapons.
The jury is out on the mid-series switch of his opening partner, from Jake Weatherald to Matthew Renshaw, after the latter was out for single figures in his first Test innings in three years.
It maintained a sequence of underperformance from the top three; Labuschagne’s 31 in Darwin marks the highest score by an Australian top three batter in three innings.
Alex Carey, another of Australia’s trump cards during last summer’s Ashes, was guilty of the most consequential exit on Saturday as he lurched from one extreme to another against Bangladesh’s main spin threat.
In Darwin, Mehidy Hasan Miraz allowed just six scoring shots from the 48 deliveries he bowled to him before having him nicking behind in the second innings. Carey, in Mackay, then faced three dots from the off-spinner before miscuing an attempt to loft him to offer an easy catch.
It exposed the lower-order to Shoriful and saw Australia lose 4-3 before stumps.
Beau Webster was among those late wickets. The allrounder had previously not put a foot wrong in international cricket but now has scores of 12, 5 and 0 in this campaign during which he has also failed to take a wicket.
If not for Cameron Green’s leap, adding a fighting unbeaten 51 to his 104 in Darwin las t week, as well as Steve Smith still looking as likely as ever, Australia might be facing an even bigger overhaul.
Josh Inglis has been the reserve batter for the past two Tests, while Kurtis Patterson, Nathan McSweeney and Campbell Kellaway are among others who have been touted as top-order options. Several of those players could feature in four-day ‘A’ games in India next month, though selectors have previously indicated they would have little or no bearing on selection for the South Africa Tests.
“Coming from a number nine batter, I’m not going to be handing out batting tips,” said Starc.
“Look, there’s clearly processes going on. I guess one that we can probably highlight is someone like Cameron Green. He’s found a process that’s working for him. It was a fantastic hundred last week.
“He’s obviously doing the work and found a process that’s finding some time in the middle, but finding a way to score runs and build partnerships.
“If it was easy, all you lot would be playing Test cricket too … it’s the chicken or the egg – is it good bowling or bad batting?”
NRMA Insurance Bangladesh Test series
First Test: Bangladesh won by nine wickets
Second Test: August 22-26, Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay, 10am (local)
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster
Bangladesh squad: Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Mehidy Hasan Miraz (vc), Soumya Sarkar, Shadman Islam, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Mominul Haque Showrab, Mushfiqur Rahim, Litton Das, Amite Hasan, Jaker Ali Anik, Taijul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Syed Khaled Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain Chowdhury, Musfik Hasan, Litton Das, Shoriful Islam
