KIWIS GET KANING
Skipper’s failures are key
CRICKET: Take down the captain. Take down the team.
You know the Australian team is getting back to its best when it dismantles opposition teams from the top down.
It’s happening again this summer. Australia’s are ruffling Mr Unruffled Kane Williamson whose returns – 34, 14, 9 and 0 – are diminishing by the innings.
The declining numbers tell the story. As the stress grows, Williamson’s once Zen-like concentration levels have scrambled and the dividends have decreased.
Williamson is following a long line of visiting captains to be crushed by the stress of trying to beat Australia in the devil’s lair.
Nasser Hussain, Graham Gooch, Jimmy Adams, Wasim Akram and Sachin Tendulkar all had their captaincy careers directly terminated or seriously shortened after landslide defeats on our shores.
That won’t happen to Williamson who has become a celebrated figure after guiding his side to with a run of taking the World Cup then beating England in a Test series in New Zealand.
But this is still a truly chastening moment for himself and his team despite the great fight displayed by Tom Blundell in his stunning against-the-odds century.
In a way Blundell’s cool-headed defiance only spotlighted the shortcomings of the more experienced men in the order.
Australia is playing wonderful cricket and are a much more impressive force for the fact that they are not relying on the twin engines of Steve Smith and David Warner.
A fascinating decision awaits Australia if this attack continues to improve because Josh Hazlewood’s Test record demands instant reinstatement when he becomes fit again.
But who misses out?
Pat Cummins selects himself. Mitchell Starc is in career-best form and James Pattinson adds that menacing edge.
One of this trio is likely to go in Australia’s next Test series in Bangladesh where Australia are likely to play two spinners. Big decisions are looming but they are pleasant ones.
Great fast-bowling combinations normally come in pairs. Rarely do they have three. Barely ever, outside the great West Indian sides of the 1980s do they get four world-class quicks in the frame at the same time.
The moral of this series is one which has floated down through the generations – Australia rarely lose Test matches which become arm wrestles at home. They are a difficult team to chisel through on home soil. You normally need a stick of gelignite to blow the front door open then let your craftsmen storm the building.
Last year the magnificent Indian quick Jasprit Bumrah was too hot to handle. In the 1980s Richard Hadlee tore Australia apart. But a group of willing seam and swingmen bowling at around 130kph is bringing knives to a gunfight when the Australians are bowling 10-15kph faster.