What is wrong with Australia?

Which Australian side are we witnessing? It is giving us the impression of a unit that loses the match even before the first ball has been bowled — Tired. Not fully focused. Lack of application on the field. Apprehensive. No sign of aggression. We are not accustomed to this Australia and for which the sloppy fielding, average bowling, and a dismal batting display force us to think, what is wrong with Australia?

Australia won the toss and decided to field against a batting order that had played the least percentage of false shots in the previous match at Delhi against Sri Lanka — their range of attacking stroke-play was on full display at Lucknow as well with the Australian bowlers losing their line and length early on.

Pat Cummins looked like a shadow of the past. Adam Zampa failed to extract enough from a track that was getting slower after each over — since 2016, his ability to turn the ball has reduced from three-degree to two according to The CricViz Analyst.

Mitchell Starc did not bowl the ideal length on this deck and was smothered earlier while the line and length of Josh Hazlewood were lost in the South African forest as Quinton de Kock smashed his way to back-to-back hundreds — it was the 12 century from just 10 matches in this tournament. 

South Africa is habituated to more centuries per match in India than any other visiting team in ODI cricket South Africa has scored 21 centuries in 47 matches with Australia at 0.32 and New Zealand at 0.28 — they have kept up their astonishing record till now.

Glenn Maxwell appeared to be the best bowler who could use the slowness of this deck and chain the South African acceleration to an extent — still, 311 for 7 on this deck was always going to be challenging for a team that had a horrible outing at Chennai against the left-arm orthodox bowling of India.

Well, the spinners did not have to sweat much as the pace trio of Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen, and Kagiso Rabada had set jitters and steamrolled the Australian top order that was unsure of using the feet and lacked the trust towards their defence — the hand and eye coordination along with footwork took a setback again as the Australians lost six wickets for 65 within 17.2 overs.

Australia has only been four wickets down inside 12 overs, in one World Cup chase before which was in Port Elizabeth 2003 on a tougher deck than this — but Michael Bevan and Andy Bichell pulled the match out of the fire with sheer grit.

Sadly, this Australian team lacks the grit and determination, which is the hallmark of Australian cricket and a role model for every cricket nation around the world.

Normally, while chasing a big total or the tricky ones, Australia unleashes their attacking intent with clean hitting by keeping the basics of the technique intact, and even if they lose wickets early — the middle order comes to the rescue by injecting stability with strike rotation and controlled aggression — again, by maintaining the basics of batting technique.

Both in Chennai and Lucknow — Australia’s batting has been disappointing.

The Australians are cornered and when they find the going tough, they start to unleash their true colour — but to do such, they have to rediscover the mental toughness for which they are famous!

Thank You

Faisal Caesar