Australia’s cricketers must shed conservative cloak
They’d be better off being bold and brave, writes Geoff Lawson.
OPINION: Australia would have been more relieved than pleased to break their duck in Adelaide on Friday night.
The three-wicket victory over England in the fourth one-day international doesn’t suggest the easiest of wins, but when you’re in a slump any win is a good one.
After the best start by a bowling side in the history of one-day cricket – reducing England to 8-5 – there followed conservatism and a lack of attention to detail that let England approach a defendable 196.
The series may have gone but don’t underestimate the desire of the Australian players to win every game they play.
England’s desire may have been free-form and could be exemplified by the creative, wellconceived plans with which Eoin Morgan tested each new batsman. The visitors, of course, could afford to gamble all they liked as they were spending the house’s money and took to rolling the dice via attacking leg-spin, slips, leg gullies and two short covers.
Marcus Stoinis should have played steadily through to the end for red ink as the run rate required hovered around a very hospitable three an over, but fell into the Morgan-set and Adil Rashidsprung trap all too easily.
That style of dismissal brings furrowed brows and mutterings from captains, coaches and selectors, but perhaps Australia, in general, are being out-thought all too often in recent times.
The 50-over World Cup holders are in a white-ball malaise. This win was just the second from the past dozen completed matches, which accompanies an ICC ranking of five to go with a Twenty20 of ranking of seven.
The T20 tri-series, starting on February 3, will provide a glimpse into what that team can bring against higher-ranked countries England and New Zealand. With that T20 team virtually all in-form Big Bash players, they should do well.
Glenn Maxwell was called into the ODI squad to cover for Aaron Finch, but didn’t get into the starting side as Travis Head won the spot – just as well – but Maxwell expressed some thoughts about the conservative manner in which the Australian batting had been setting targets.
Maxwell’s unpredictability with the bat matches his brilliance, but there is no doubting his ability to change the momentum of a game and change it quickly.
While the Australian middle order (Steve Smith is having an anti-Ashes batting streak) has been content to tick the scoreboard over through the middle overs, England have smashed, bashed, crashed and deflected their way toward superior totals.
The philosophy of playing with intent and freedom must be accompanied by technique and skill, so there have been a few ramp shots, plenty of reverse sweeps and other new-fangled strokes that are the flavour du jour.
England have used T20 batting methods to take scores beyond 300 and to make bowlers react to nonorthodox confrontation.
At Adelaide Oval, Australia won the toss and the subsequent newball bowling was outstanding as the pitch gave them something to work with.
That opening onslaught certainly restricted England’s recent flamboyance to a degree but, thanks to Chris Woakes’ aggression, there were still moments when Australia were reduced to defensive field placements – almost as if they were the team under pressure rather than England.
Adam Zampa was left out of the previous 11, but was quite rightly back in this team. The efficacy of wrist spinners in limited-overs cricket is one of the few bowling bright spots illuminating the ‘‘big bat, small boundary’’ era, particularly when early wickets have fallen.
Rashid bowled brilliantly, supported by Morgan’s field placements, despite the scoreboard pressure all being on England.
Zampa wasn’t quite at his best, but he needs to be trusted and encouraged and he needs to have more input into where his fieldsmen stand.
Coaches in 20-over and 50-over cricket bang on about taking wickets to restrict run scoring, yet Zampa is being asked to save runs as a priority rather than remove batsmen.
Maxwell implores more exciting batting (which he can bring), but he forgot about the attacking bowling that Zampa or Nathan Lyon (yes, I know he’s not a wrist spinner, but he is an attacking, wicket-taking tweaker) bring to a contest.
Australian cricket teams have rarely been painted as conservative.
It is usually their attacking approach that is their point of difference.
Maybe all Australia have to do is to find their machismo again; the desire to take the attacking route rather than the conservative. Be bold and brave, and back yourself to play all the shots in the repertoire. And maybe learn a few that the opposition have been using.
The Sun-Herald