Batsmen woes not so new for Australia

AUSTRALIA is facing the uncomfortable truth that there are not six decent Test batsmen in the country.

Don’t panic. This is the rule rather than the exception.

If you take out the golden decade from 1995-2005, when players like Mike Hussey, Matt Hayden and Darren Lehmann often missed selection despite averaging around 50 in first class cricket, the last man chosen in the batting order in most eras was some form of battler.

Sometimes there are two or three of them. But it does not take away the fact that the well is not as deep as it should be.

Rod Marsh had a sorrowful reign as a national cricket selection chairman but the first time he opened his mouth in the job back in May 2014, he made a point that still rings true.

“I don’t think our batting is as good as it should be for a nation of our strength,” Marsh said. “Technically, I don’t think it’s good enough. There has been a period of time where technique hasn’t been taught as well as it could have been.’’

Three years on Marsh is long gone but he is as right now as he was then.

It appears the pancake flat decks of Twenty20, 50-over and even Test cricket have played their part in raising a generation of batsmen who do not adapt well to challenge and change. Batsmen’s prime priorities these days are domination, not resilience or subtle survival skills.

A swinging ball is as dangerous as it has ever been, a fact reinforced by the weekend’s Sheffield Shield results.

Much has been made of the shootout between up to eight players for the No.6 batting spot for the first Test at the Gabba but it would not be a shootout at all if any of them were true Test batsmen.

The standard of competition between the likes of Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh, Marcus Stoinis, Nic Maddinson and Moises Henriques and company, none of whom stood out on the opening round of Shield fixtures, is not high.

Many of them have averages in the mid-30s. Queenslander Chris Lynn is a better batsman than all of them, averaging 43.5 in a first class career limited to just 41 games in seven years. The pain in his injured shoulder must seem worse than ever.