Bad vibes all round as Australia hits dead end
FOR the best part of a year insiders were predicting the Bangladesh tour would be used by the warring parties as a pawn in cricket’s pay dispute.
Now Australian cricket as a collective has blood on its hands, paying the most humbling price for letting an indifferent attitude towards touring Bangladesh fester for so long.
It is Cricket Australia’s responsibility to give its Test side optimum preparation time, and there is an onus on players to get themselves in the right mental space to succeed.
The shock first Test result in Dhaka would indicate months of self-sabotaging left Australia underprepared for a tour that, until it really came down to the crunch, was being treated as expendable.
It is hard to pin it on one tangible reason, because there has been a preponderance, but to quote The Castle, it’s been the vibe of the thing.
Cricket in general was in a state of disarray and an Australia A tour was abandoned. Spare a thought for coach Darren Lehmann, who had to sit on his hands as his bosses went to war with his players.
As a result, Australian cricket has hit a dead end.
What are all the advancements made in India worth if on Australia’s very next trip to the subcontinent, against the ninth-ranked team in Test cricket, performances regress?
Another opportunity to win a series in Asia has been squandered in the Bangladesh dust.
Australia must accept the chastening reality that the No.6 ranking it may slip down to after this series is an accurate reflection of where a once mighty team now sits in world cricket.
It still deserves to be Ashes favourite, and a win against England will help rebuild confidence, but Australia is a million miles away from being a consistent, competitive force in all conditions and from achieving its desired target of being cricket’s No.1 team.
Question marks will be asked about whether some players are cut out for Test cricket. But overall, Trevor Hohns’ selection panel has recently uncovered players who have shown the grit and determination required to restore faith in the baggy green.
Millions of dollars are poured into high performance, and Australia deserves to have serious questions asked about why the results aren’t following — and why every time the ball spins it feels like Groundhog Day.