Prepare yourself for Aussie Ashes woes
Test batting form looking dire after intra-squad match performance
IS IT wrong to already be preparing for an embarrassingly one-sided Ashes defeat?
Australia’s horrendous form with the willow was exposed on the first day of an intra-squad battle.
The Brad Haddin XII was utterly destroyed by a bowler nobody expects to feature in the Ashes Test squad, as only Marnus Labuschagne scored more than 15 runs.
Michael Neser took 4-18 from 10 overs, including three maidens, and his scalps included likely opening pair David Warner (4) and Marcus Harris (6). Jackson Bird took three wickets, while Chris Tremain, Mitchell Marsh and James Pattinson all chimed in with one each.
The GOAT himself, Nathan Lyon, was the only bowler not to take a wicket in his three overs of work, while the next best batsmen were lower-order specialists and the men who regularly save our batsmen’s embarrassment, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, who each scored 14.
At least Graeme Hick XII openers Cameron Bancroft and Joe Burns hit double figures, but returns of 17 and 18 are hardly encouraging.
Marsh’s top score of 29 included six boundaries and not much else, as Cummins and Peter Siddle took three wickets each to leave them at 7-96.
In all, that’s just 201 runs for 17 wickets – just under 12 What do you think of Australia’s Ashes hopes? runs per batsman. If there’s ever been a time I’d be happy to eat my words (not literally), this is it, but it is not looking pretty.
Yes, you don’t want your batsmen to peak in an intrasquad trial game, and sure, there’s some very encouraging results for our bowlers.
But if Justin Langer wasn’t concerned before they swapped their coloured One-Day International outfits for the classic whites, the coach is surely drinking a few nervous teas now.
The passion with which Langer has spoken about rebuilding the national cricket team’s image after Sandpapergate and trying to improve a sport which was riding high on the national consciousness when he was swinging the bat is infectious.
It breaks through to every fan – if you haven’t heard him talk about his love for the game, tune in to any cricket podcast or interview on the topic – and leaves a sense of optimism that the dark days are truly past.
Talk can only get you so far though. It will mean nothing if we get destroyed by the Poms.