Spin king’s warning for Aussie batsmen
Aussie legend Shane Warne says only four players from the Aussie team that crashed to a series defeat against Pakistan are safe for the first test of the Aussie summer.
The spin king’s call for up to seven changes to the Aussie side led the bitter reaction to Australia’s 373-run walloping in Abu Dhabi.
Pakistan’s victory, after Australia were set a 538-run target, allowed the home side to wrap up the two-match series 1-0 after Australia fought back to draw the first test in Dubai last week.
It was Australia’s heaviest defeat against Pakistan, beating the 356-run hammering at this same venue four years ago.
Medium pacer Mohammad Abbas was the chief destroyer of the deplorable Aussie batting line-up, finishing with ten wickets for the second test.
The fragile Aussie batting order is the biggest concern for coach Justin Langer heading into his first summer in charge of the Aussie team.
With star batsman Usman Khawaja to see a surgeon back in Australia surrounding his knee injury and uncertain to be fit for the Aussie summer, Warne posted on Twitter on Friday night that opener Aaron Finch is the only batsman who is certain to play in the first test against India, beginning December 6 in Adelaide.
Warne earlier this week called for selectors to drop out of form brothers Shaun Marsh and Mitch Marsh, suggesting it may be time for selectors to re-call opener Matt Renshaw and allrounder Glenn Maxwell.
He described the manner of Australia’s dismissals as “very worrying“and suggested the Marsh brothers, Travis Head and allrounder Marnus Labuschange should all be nervous about keeping their spots in the Aussie team.
He also said destructive batsman D’Arcy Short and returning quicks Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins are certain to return to the Aussie test side.
Captain Tim Paine admitted after the loss to Pakistan that his team’s batting took a step backwards during the series.
“There’s no doubt this has been happening for too long for the Australian cricket team, not just our test team but probably domestically,” Paine said. “There’s a lot of collapses throughout our batting group and I think a lot of it can be technical.