It’s been a tough four days for Australian cricket, and in many ways eradicated the false dawn that arose for many after the victory in Perth. Many cracks were papered over as most cricket fans hoped for an even contest to take place during the festive season. India of course was having none of it and have ground Australia into the dust. While the fight of the lower order once again has extended the match beyond what appeared probable midway through the middle session, Australia’s top order has again surrendered itself to poor planning and execution, which raises questions once again about the future direction of our cricket teams.
While India is in the ascendancy, the day belonged to Patrick Cummins, the man who is setting himself up to become the future Australian captain. He dominated with the ball yesterday and he continued on again this morning, taking two more wickets to finish with 6/27 from 11 overs, his best ever Test bowling figures in an innings, and completing match figures of 9/99. It was an inspiring performance from the big fast man who so often since his return to the Test arena has been the enforcer who seems to miss out getting the wickets, instead setting them up for his partner at the other end. This Test though he has received his just rewards and shown how important he is to this Australian bowling line up.
He then had to return to the batting crease in the final session in a losing cause, and just look to bat as long as he could. He immediately copped a barrage of short balls from Bumrah and Sharma, looking to make him as uncomfortable as possible and then fire him out. India thought they were going to have an easy afternoon, but Cummins did not budge. Alongside his skipper Paine, Starc and then Lyon, Cummins saw off the bowlers and just bunted them back. He was a rock. Once he reached 30 though he played some shots that his top order would have been proud of. The cover drive to reach 50, then the off drive and straight drive to follow them were absolutely superb and he didn’t have to move after playing them. At stumps he remains on 61 not out, his highest Test score. It would be a long time since someone has produced their best bowling figures and their highest score on the same day.
Cummins has been superb. He is not a genuine all rounder but his batting is so good because he just refuses to give up his wicket cheaply, a lesson that many of our batsmen could take a leaf from. He fights every inch. His 103 deliveries faced so far is more than the combined total faced by Harris, Finch, Khawaja and Mitch Marsh in this innings. Enough said.
There will be talk of Australia’s top order leading into Sydney, despite the fact changes are unlikely. That discussion is for another day. What needs to be highlighted from today’s play is that a decision has to be made as to who in the current top six is worth persisting with leading into 2019 and beyond. India is the best team in the world, and their bowling attack is the equal of Australia’s.
Finch’s parry to second slip underlines and highlights in bold that he is not a Test opening batsman and he probably needs to be removed from that spot with immediate effect. Whether that is to put him in the middle order or out of the team completely needs to be reviewed. Khawaja was beaten by a good ball to be LBW, while Shaun Marsh was very unfortunate to be triggered LBW, and then to see the review of the ball barely touching his leg stump. To me it was a poor decision from Erasmus.
Harris and Head are project players, the young guns here who look to have plenty to offer and need to be encouraged. Harris pushed too hard at Jadeja to be caught in close, while Head threw away his fourth innings in succession after making a start and needing to build it into a big score. Head’s dismissals in particular are very similar to the way that Ricky Ponting was dismissed early in his Test career, for similar scores and in similarly frustrating ways. He benefitted from being hidden from the limelight by being in a team surrounded by Taylor, Slater and the Waugh brothers. Head has no such corner to hide in, and each dismissal is being dissected accordingly. Travis has been Australia’s best in the top six this series, and he needs encouragement as well as direction to continue to improve and make better shot choices going forward. Hopefully he is getting the right noises from team management.
It is easy to criticise Mitch Marsh, who has again underwhelmed with scores of 9 and 10 in this match. Both of his dismissals have come from aggressive strokes to deliveries that probably weren’t there for the shot in situations that required a more measured response such that those coming after him have shown. And that is where his performance is so damning. Paine and Cummins in the first innings both faced more deliveries for more runs, while in the second those two as well as Starc and Lyon have done more. He bowled 26 overs in the first innings, but our number six cannot continue to average so little with the bat. Number six must be a batsman first and anything else after that. The selectors must either remove him or remove themselves.
Having set Australia an unachievable 399 for victory, Kohli and his cohorts would have expected to already be celebrating a 2-1 series lead. That they are not is all credit to Australia’s lower order, and for the second afternoon in a row Pat Cummins has given Australia supporters something to cheer about. India’s bowlers looked tired in the afternoon, an interesting development given they have bowled less than Australia’s cartel. They will still taste victory during tomorrow’s play and will be laughing into the New Year as Australia once again tries to navigate through their darkest year of cricket since 1985. A new year needs a new slate. One wonders if we will see one.
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