{"id":289052,"date":"2023-09-18T06:19:32","date_gmt":"2023-09-18T06:19:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=289052"},"modified":"2023-09-18T06:19:32","modified_gmt":"2023-09-18T06:19:32","slug":"sloppy-effort-leaves-headless-aussies-trending-down-before-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/%d1%81ricket\/sloppy-effort-leaves-headless-aussies-trending-down-before-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Sloppy effort leaves Headless Aussies trending down before World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Even as coach Andrew McDonald singled out the clearest bright spot from Australia\u2019s lopsided tour of South Africa, he had to clarify it with the biggest problem to arise.<\/p>\n

Just as the team had found a way to dominate the opening 10 overs of the game, not always a strength in Aaron Finch\u2019s latter days, it lost Travis Head, the main reason why.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Dejected, Marnus Labuschagne leaves the crease after being dismissed in the fifth one-dayer against South Africa.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>AP<\/cite><\/p>\n

\u201cI think the way we attacked the powerplay with our top order batting with Travis, Davey and Mitch in that top three, we had to adjust that on the back of an injury, but I thought that was a real positive,\u201d McDonald said after the ODI series was surrendered to the Proteas with a third consecutive loss by more than 100 runs.<\/p>\n

Throw in a fractured hand for Head, plus a few other injuries besides, and Australia\u2019s final tour before the World Cup trip to India raised many more questions than answers. As McDonald put it, the team had been \u201csloppy\u201d, and needed to \u201csharpen up\u201d.<\/p>\n

The main query for Australia\u2019s leaders will be how to reconfigure the batting line-up without Head. Over the past two years, he has been both the team\u2019s leading run-maker and their fastest scorer, underlining the gulf left by his injury.<\/p>\n

While it would be risky in the extreme to pick Head for the World Cup and hope his hand will heal in time to feature in the second half of the tournament, the mere fact the selectors are contemplating the option says it all.<\/p>\n

Without Head\u2019s runs, Australia\u2019s batting order looks a whole lot more vulnerable. Especially given how the team intends to attack the powerplay in the early overs, out of the expectation that it will often be the best time to bat in India.<\/p>\n

Although the returns of Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell \u2013 both with the help of cortisone injections \u2013 will aid Australia\u2019s balance, there is a worrying brittleness in evidence.<\/p>\n

Aside from Head, Smith and David Warner, none of the established members of the top seven have enjoyed better than middling returns over the past two years. Marcus Stoinis\u2019 record, averaging little more than 17 with the bat, is of most concern, but none of Mitchell Marsh (32.25), Alex Carey (31.72) or Maxwell (28.88) have a great deal in the way of big contributions behind them.<\/p>\n

Much will now rest on Marsh\u2019s ability to replicate his domineering batting in three games in India earlier this year. Smith and Marnus Labuschagne will need to score at a somewhat higher tempo than they might otherwise have needed to.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s Mitchell Marsh leaves the field after being dismissed.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>AP<\/cite><\/p>\n

Labuschagne, at least, has responded extremely well to being dropped from the ODI team. Batting with far more flair and aggression has, in turn, aided his consistency.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s made a significant shift in his intent at the crease and putting the bowlers under pressure from where he was potentially 12 months ago,\u201d McDonald said of Labuschagne.<\/p>\n

Following an unexpectedly early elimination from last year\u2019s T20 World Cup on home soil, a Test series defeat in India and a missed opportunity to finally win an Ashes series in England for the first time since 2001, the team marshalled by Cummins and McDonald needs to find its best for the last big trophy on offer this year.<\/p>\n

As Cummins admitted at the end of the Ashes, the environment he fostered with McDonald has been geared at allowing a seasoned group of players to find their best individual paths to performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest asset we have is the experience of the group and that\u2019s not going to be around forever,\u201d Cummins said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very individualised in how we let everyone be themselves and do it their way. Some of that\u2019s down to the fact that we\u2019ve got guys that have played 100 Test matches or 15 years of first-class cricket. If there\u2019s new guys in, maybe you need to shift that a little bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Early elimination from the World Cup in India, short of the semi-final berth earned in 2019, would force a swifter transition to a younger group and also a different, and arguably more prescriptive, set-up around the team.<\/p>\n

Australia has a lot it has to get right on the night.<\/p>\n

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