Confucius believed that “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated”.
I doubt that anyone outside the Australian team camp knows what is going on behind closed doors, but I can assure you that they will not be complicating anything.
In fact, I am certain they will be calm, and that coach Andrew McDonald and captain Pat Cummins will be focused on what the team and each individual will need to do during the fourth Test at Old Trafford.
To listen to the media, including the screeching social media, you could be excused for thinking that it is England who lead the series 2-1, and Australia who are under pressure. However the team leaders will be counselling players and staff to block out the outside noise and focus on the job at hand.
No doubt, the brains trust will have discussed the situation around David Warner’s form, but those discussions will have been calm and reasoned. Australia might decide to back Warner with the thinking that when you have a player that has performed at a high standard for a long time, you don’t discard him lightly. Historically, we have always given our champions one game too many rather than one game too few.
The alternative argument which the selectors might have deliberated upon is replacing Warner with the belligerent Mitch Marsh. Marsh would work well with Usman Khawaja because he brings the aggressive mindset of Warner, which allows Khawaja to play the foil. A less attacking player replacing Warner could unbalance the partnership.
Mitchell Marsh has impressed with bat and ball since returning to the Australian side.Credit: Reuters
Don’t forget that Australia were playing ‘Bazball’ style cricket before that term was coined. Now is not the time to be conservative. It is the time to put the foot on the accelerator.
Cameron Green should play. He is a superstar. He is worth the ground admission fee for his catching alone. That would give us the best batting, bowling and fielding combination.
The internal discussion will be about everyone just doing their job. Focus will be on what Australia have to do, and that is basically bat, bowl and field well. As Leonardo da Vinci famously proclaimed, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”.
The key things which the Australians will want to tick off in the Test will be partnerships – both batting and bowling – getting a big score if one gets a start, making England earn every run and, importantly, catching everything that goes to hand.
Marnus Labuschagne has struggled this series.Credit: Getty
While Warner has been the focus of outside attention in the lull between Tests, neither Marnus Labuschagne nor Steve Smith will be happy with their output so far. If these two can find form in the final two games, it will be Australia who returns with the urn and win their first series victory on English soil since 2001.
Australia won’t be thinking of a draw at Old Trafford. They will be going flat out for a win to wrap up the series. Playing safe is never a good option. It means that you can’t win unless the other side plays badly; and it doesn’t guarantee that you won’t lose. It is the most dangerous of all options.
I don’t have access to the data, but McDonald and his analysts will have crunched all their numbers and will know exactly what the history is in Test matches at Old Trafford. They will know what a par score is at the ground and will know whether pace or spin is the main wicket-taking option.
History shows that the team with the best pace attack generally wins, so if the selectors take the Marsh option, they could have both Marsh and Green to back up the three main pace bowlers. It would be a formidable attack if conditions are helpful, especially with some rain forecast.
Now is not the time to be conservative. It is the time to put the foot on the accelerator.
Test cricket is not as complicated as people think. The team that does the basics best will prosper. Simplicity is the key to orchestrating grand things. By streamlining the process, you can unlock the elegance and efficiency that turns the ordinary into the extraordinary.
Cricket is actually a battle over a piece of turf the size of a small front door mat. It is approximately 6-8 metres in front of the batsman for pace bowlers, and 3-4 metres for spin bowlers. Around 80 per cent of wickets fall to balls that pitch in this area. Amazingly, only about 50 per cent of balls are bowled in this area!
The aim of the bowling side is to hit this area as often as possible while for the batting team it is to make that area smaller by good use of footwork. The team that dominates this piece of turf usually wins the game.
The reason that it is considered the danger zone for batsmen is because it brings into play all modes of dismissal. Anything shorter than this length is usually going over the stumps, which takes out lbw and bowled, which is why I have been bemused and unimpressed by the Australian ploy of short-pitched bowling – especially to Ben Stokes, who plays the short ball well.
I would hope that the Australians have revised these tactics, and we see a different plan of attack to him for the rest of the series. Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Green are much taller than average and their advantage is that they get bounce from a good length.
When required to bowl shorter than usual for extended periods, it takes away their main weapon and endangers their fitness – as we saw with Green. If Australia can dominate that danger zone against Ben Stokes and Joe Root in particular, they will go a long way to wrapping up the series in Manchester.
Simple really, but that is where the challenge lies.
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