The current Australian side is not closely similar to those led by SWaugh /Ponting between (1998-2009) yet this team has an aggressive streak to her, and eventually it will be mentioned in same breath…..till then it has to grind, fight, show consistency in all skills and show faith and belief in themselves.
For now, this side lacks runs from top order and lack consistency from bowlers. They are unable to adapt to various conditions given to them inspite of having good intent. Since Clarke took over from Ricky Ponting as a Test captain, Australia have played 25 Tests, won 12, lost 8 which seems to be good enough, but not good enough if one has to compare them with their past (recent) teams. Clarke’s unit is taking more time to settle and transpose, in 25 Tests, they (Australia) have debuted 15players.
For the record -Test debutants for other Test playing nations are.
5 for England, 11 for India , 10 for SL, 8 for PAK, 10 for WI, 7 for SA, 11 for NZ, 9 for BANG, 16 for ZIM
Table 1:
A quick look at Australia’s team performance series wise.
For batting I have used >35.00 pts as par performance and <30.00 pts for better bowling performance. There is inconsistency in both skills, as irregularity is noticed since S A home series.
| Series wise | Test | Won | Bat Avg | Bat (r/o) | Bowl Avg | Bowl (r/o) |
| S L (2011) | 3 | 1 | 36.13 | 3.26 | 28.89 | 2.66 |
| S A (2011-12) | 2 | 1 | 24.66 | 3.65 | 29.28 | 3.66 |
| N Z(2011-12) | 2 | 1 | 26.29 | 3.31 | 20.53 | 3.20 |
| Ind (2011-12) | 4 | 4 | 51.57 | 3.77 | 23.09 | 3.07 |
| W I(2012) | 3 | 2 | 30.67 | 2.81 | 27.29 | 2.73 |
| S A (2012-13) | 3 | 0 | 43.42 | 4.14 | 38.60 | 3.02 |
| S L (2012-13) | 3 | 3 | 45.15 | 3.6 | 24.95 | 3.05 |
| Ind (2012-13) | 4 | 0 | 25.9 | 2.66 | 43.80 | 3.73 |
| Eng (2013) | 1 | 0 | 28.8 | 3.29 | 29.50 | 2.83 |
| Total | 25 | 12 | 34.58 | 3.33 | 29.30 | 3.09 |
Table 2
Batsmen’s performance series wise. For easier reading I have displayed runs with innings in bracket. From below table it’s very simple and straight that performance from top order batsmen is waning, which in some way has effected captain M Clarke’s batting too…
It would be interesting to see their role play contribution, viz partnerships of 50+
| SERIES | S L | S A | N Z | India | W I | S A | SL | India | Eng |
| SEASON | 2011 | 2011-12 | 2011-12 | 2011-12 | 2012 | 2012-13 | 2012-13 | 2012-13 | 2013 |
| M Clarke | 214(5) | 166(4) | 161(3) | 626(6) | 188(6) | 576(5) | 316(5) | 286(6) | 23(2) |
| S Watson | 87(5) | 95(4) | 193(6) | 35(2) | 118(3) | 99(6) | 59(2) | ||
| D Warner | 153(4) | 266(6) | 171(6) | 206(5) | 272(5) | 195(8) | |||
| E Cowan | 206(6) | 152(6) | 228(5) | 136(5) | 265(8) | 14(2) | |||
| P Hughes | 202(5) | 117(4) | 41(4) | 233(5) | 147(8) | 81(2) | |||
| S Smith | 161(4) | 70(2) | |||||||
| B Haddin | 90(5) | 76(4) | 100(3) | 86(5) | 51(2) | ||||
| C Rogers | 68(2) | ||||||||
| M Wade | 198 | 121(5) | 191(5) | 113(6) | |||||
| R Ponting | 124(4) | 70(4) | 99(3) | 544(6) | 146(6) | 32(5) | |||
| M Hussey | 463(5) | 60(4) | 23(3) | 293(6) | 219(6) | 295(5) | 232(5) | ||
| UKhawaja | 60(3) | 77(2) | 68(4) | ||||||
| S Marsh | 240(3) | 44(2) | 17(6) |
Table 3 : Bowler’s performance
Here too I have used same simple straight philosophy wkts/innings. On display there are wickets/Inns in bracket.
Second innings bowling is a worry for Aussies, and in 9 series (including ongoing Ashes)they have used too many regular bowlers. Only P Siddle & N Lyon have been consistent feature in each series. Pattinson and Starc need to learn how to maintain pressure, and Watson needs to bowl more overs/innings. At same time injury to Harris means more workload for Sids…and with Hilfy out of form and contention Australia have to find a bowler who can toil sessions without breaking down. Spin bowling right now is a lottery.
| Serieswise | S L | S A | N Z | Ind | W I | S A | SL | Ind | Eng |
| Season | 2011 | 2011-12 | 2011-12 | 2011-12 | 2012 | 2012-13 | 2012-13 | 2012-13 | 2013 |
| P Siddle | 4(1) | 4(4) | 9(4) | 23(8) | 3(2) | 9(4) | 15(6) | 9(6) | 8(2) |
| N Lyon | 8(6) | 4(3) | 10(4) | 7(6) | 13(5) | 12(6) | 7(6) | 15(6) | 0 |
| J Pattinson | 14(4) | 11(4) | 1(1) | 5(3) | 0 | 9(5) | 5(2) | ||
| M Starc | 4(4) | 4(2) | 2(2) | 8(2) | 10(4) | 2(3) | 5(2) | ||
| S Watson | 7(5) | 6(3) | 3(6) | 1(2) | 2(3) | 0(2) | |||
| R Harris | 11(4) | 4(2) | 6(4) | 6(4) | |||||
| B Hilfenhaus | 27(8) | 10(6) | 6(4) | 1(1) | |||||
| M Johnson | 6(5) | 3(4) | 6(2) | 9(4) | 0(2) | ||||
| P Cummins | 7(2) | ||||||||
| X Doherty | 4(3) | ||||||||
| J Hastings | 1(2) | ||||||||
| T Copeland | 6(6) | ||||||||
| J Bird | 11(4) | ||||||||
| A Agar | 2(2) | ||||||||
| M Beer | (2) | ||||||||
| M Henriques | 2(3) | ||||||||
| G Maxwell | 7(3) |
Will the weather be a spoil sport for this Ashes?.
If summer has inconsistency sunshine than one can see start-stop games. Is this the reason why pitches have less grass in UK?… as it might be to help them bat without any discomfort(they looked wary against NZ swing and pace) and if Aussie bowlers can get some accuracy than it would be an interesting to see how home side tackle swing/seam on conditions they are used to.
Perhaps this might be the first time in England’s cricket history that their national side is having run-rate above 3.50 consistently, and this tactics was apparent from the beginning of their domestic season. Scoring rate is high in 4-day competition.
So far(mid-July) 58 times teams (both division) have scored in access of 400 runs, and each team have played 10 games, and another 7 to go before the season ends, therefore it is not very difficult to imagine team’s performance in another two months. Although no batsman has touched 1000 first class runs this season, but strike rate of most batsmen in both division is 60+. At the same time seam/swing bowlers have benefited from the surface– ( 10 wkts haul = 7 times & 75 times – 5 wkts/Inn).
Update on county games (both division)- 64 times teams have scored in access of 400 runs. Currently (as on 22nd Aug) 8 games are on play – and at the end of them, 106 county games would have been played….Interestingly out of those 64 big score(> 400) innings, 59 came in the first innings.
For the record two batsmen reached 1000 county runs, & three bowlers have crossed 50 county wkts.
All Int cricket data is updated and processed before the 2nd Ashes Test at Lord’s
