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- Jan 13, 2010
Article by Sylvester -
Two series have now past since the 47 all out against South Africa. In that time, Australia played out a drawn series in another silly two matches series and are about to clean sweep India.
One of the key issues I identified from the Hobart loss was none of the experienced men stood up. No one should be expecting an inexperienced and unsettled top 3 to perform consistently and that is where the experienced middle order batsmen should be standing up.
This point was particularly important considering two new batsmen were entering the top 3 with David Warner only 2 test matches into his career. Stand up they did, Clarke, Ponting and Hussey were the top 3 leading run scorers for Australia in this series with 626, 544 and 293 runs respectively.
Below is a review of each batting performance in this series.
Boxing Day Test, 1st innings – 2/46 to 333 (Cowan 68, Ponting 62)
2nd Innings – 4/27 to 240 (Ponting 60, Hussey 89)
The 1st innings is the only time the top and middle order would produce a meaningful contribution with one another in this series. It’s not often a guy will make 37 and your side ends up being 2/46 but such was the scoring rate of Warner and the dreadfulness of the number 3 that an opener losing his wicket would quickly result in two down.
The 2nd innings brought back the very fresh wounds from the 47 all out. The point I made earlier is what ensured this score was not another sub 100 total. The runs by Ponting and Hussey is what you would expect from your experienced batsmen and it is what is required when you have new players in the team, in particular a completely new top 3.
New Years Test, 1st innings – 3/37 to 4/659 (Clarke 329, Hussey 150, Ponting 134)
As I mentioned the top 3 will be inconsistent and thus a stable middle order is required. In this match the experienced trio not only got us out of trouble, they would inflict serious damage to India’s confidence which they would never recover from.
Perth Test, 1st innings – 1/214 to 369 (Warner 180, Cowan 74)
After 2 innings where the middle order has been required, it was time for the openers to stand up and stand they did. The opening stand surpassed India’s total in only the 4th session of the match. With the pressure off and the difficult nature of the pitch, the middle order struggled in comparison. However with Warner going on to make a big score, he helped mask over the middle order collapse just like the middle order had masked over the top order collapses earlier.
Adelaide Test, 1st innings – 3/84 to 604 (Ponting 221, Clarke 210)
2nd innings – 3/40 to 5/167 (Ponting 60)
The 1st innings was not as serious as some of the collapses experienced earlier but such have been the state of our collapse that 3/84 can actually considered to be alright.
The big lead carried into the 2nd innings will end up masking another failure by the top 3 in the second innings.
What we can gather from this analysis is a stable middle order is required while our new opening pairing is settling into Test cricket. And just as important is having a number 3 that can stop the middle order from coming in at 3 for not many.
More...
Two series have now past since the 47 all out against South Africa. In that time, Australia played out a drawn series in another silly two matches series and are about to clean sweep India.
One of the key issues I identified from the Hobart loss was none of the experienced men stood up. No one should be expecting an inexperienced and unsettled top 3 to perform consistently and that is where the experienced middle order batsmen should be standing up.
This point was particularly important considering two new batsmen were entering the top 3 with David Warner only 2 test matches into his career. Stand up they did, Clarke, Ponting and Hussey were the top 3 leading run scorers for Australia in this series with 626, 544 and 293 runs respectively.
Below is a review of each batting performance in this series.
Boxing Day Test, 1st innings – 2/46 to 333 (Cowan 68, Ponting 62)
2nd Innings – 4/27 to 240 (Ponting 60, Hussey 89)
The 1st innings is the only time the top and middle order would produce a meaningful contribution with one another in this series. It’s not often a guy will make 37 and your side ends up being 2/46 but such was the scoring rate of Warner and the dreadfulness of the number 3 that an opener losing his wicket would quickly result in two down.
The 2nd innings brought back the very fresh wounds from the 47 all out. The point I made earlier is what ensured this score was not another sub 100 total. The runs by Ponting and Hussey is what you would expect from your experienced batsmen and it is what is required when you have new players in the team, in particular a completely new top 3.
New Years Test, 1st innings – 3/37 to 4/659 (Clarke 329, Hussey 150, Ponting 134)
As I mentioned the top 3 will be inconsistent and thus a stable middle order is required. In this match the experienced trio not only got us out of trouble, they would inflict serious damage to India’s confidence which they would never recover from.
Perth Test, 1st innings – 1/214 to 369 (Warner 180, Cowan 74)
After 2 innings where the middle order has been required, it was time for the openers to stand up and stand they did. The opening stand surpassed India’s total in only the 4th session of the match. With the pressure off and the difficult nature of the pitch, the middle order struggled in comparison. However with Warner going on to make a big score, he helped mask over the middle order collapse just like the middle order had masked over the top order collapses earlier.
Adelaide Test, 1st innings – 3/84 to 604 (Ponting 221, Clarke 210)
2nd innings – 3/40 to 5/167 (Ponting 60)
The 1st innings was not as serious as some of the collapses experienced earlier but such have been the state of our collapse that 3/84 can actually considered to be alright.
The big lead carried into the 2nd innings will end up masking another failure by the top 3 in the second innings.
What we can gather from this analysis is a stable middle order is required while our new opening pairing is settling into Test cricket. And just as important is having a number 3 that can stop the middle order from coming in at 3 for not many.
More...
