Collins: Middle-order woes still an Aussie issue
After a drawn series between Australia and Bangladesh, Adam Collins hails the efforts of Nathan Lyon and David Warner
They were lost and now they’re found.Well, not quite. This is far from Australia’s amazing grace moment. But they did tick a box that urgently needed ticking. Any result other than a squared series would have constituted a debacle ahead of the Ashes, so avoiding that is not for nothing.
Nor is it that when it mattered most they were able to exert determined pressure on Bangladesh, who showed in their second innings capitulation that they remain a work in progress. After again running rampant through Australia’s middle-order, the hosts had an opportunity to respond by giving out a nasty fourth-innings chase. Or at a minimum, drag this into the fifth day when torrential rain is anticipated. They did neither.
Principally this was due to another worldly showing from Nathan Lyon. With six wickets to go with seven from the first innings, it was a performance of a lifetime from the off-spinner. The numbers speak for themselves, but the expert way he tied batsmen to the crease was a masterclass of his craft.
What the numbers don’t show is the journey Lyon had been on in the last 12 months. It’s forgotten how close he came to losing his spot after an ineffective tour of Sri Lanka, or after an equally modest showing against South Africa. During the Boxing Day Test he woke up reading well-sourced reports that had him bowling for his place.
Now, he leaves Bangladesh a poster child for spinners needing a more sustainable method in Asia. “Bowling ugly,” he called it after his first-innings bag. A willingness to shelve his ego; concerning himself less with bounce and big turn in favour of precision. This was how he trapped four batsmen on the opening morning. Call it guile or maturity. What it really comes down to is confidence. At long last.
“Magnificent,” Steve Smith said of his tweaker’s tremendous series, which netted 22 wickets across the two Tests, just one short of that record. “The way he just hit that right area, particularly with the new ball, skidding it on and getting a few guys in front, that was perfect.”
He spoke of being proud of the way Lyon responded to the criticism about making sure his game would become fit for purpose in the subcontinent, where until last year he took his wickets at 44 apiece. “To then take 22 wickets in a two-match series is remarkable.”
David Warner’s path is not altogether different. He arrived in Bangladesh having had a shocking tour of India in March, in keeping with his own longerterm Asian woes. Now, he walks away taking the joint Man of the Series honours with Lyon after notching tons in both Tests.
The opener has talked a big game about evolving as a player and man, emphasising the power of the mind to control tics that once were his downfall. At Chittagong, he showed it. All in extreme humidity, enough to put Peter Handscomb on his hands and knees. Not Warner.
“I always talk about trying to bat long periods of time in these conditions and by far that’s the hottest I’ve ever played in,” Warner said. It was his 20th Test century in just 66 matches, the 12th fastest to that milestone. It was also his slowest hundred, requiring 209 balls to raise the bat.
Throwing in Handscomb – whose gutsy 82 reinforced his leadership aptitude – and Pat Cummins – who bowled with fire in blazing heat – there are positives aplenty to draw from the week. Even Matthew Wade, still desperately out of sorts with the bat, bounced back from nearly losing his spot with his best ever Test behind the stumps.
But the negatives aren’t being ignored. Namely, the collapses. Smith is palpably frustrated discussing his side’s ongoing affliction. In the first innings they again let Bangladesh in, losing their last seven wickets for 79. Just as it was in Dhaka, and everywhere else for that matter.
“We let ourselves down,” the captain said. “The partnership between Petey and Davey was fantastic and then we got ourselves into one of our collapses. I think we’ve had 15 collapses in our last 14 games. That’s not good enough for an Australian cricket team. That’s something we really need to work on. We need to rectify that come the next series and the Ashes.”
Ahhh. That Ashes. The next time these Australians suit up in their creams it will be November for the big one. Dealt a stunning blow in Bangladesh ahead of that stoush? That they weren’t. But they still leave a little bit bloody.
As for England, after watching this they now have a much better idea where the bruises are that need punching. And punch they must.
During the Boxing Day Test Lyon woke up reading well-sourced reports that had him bowling for his place