Possibly not since Johnny Watkins in 1973 has an Australian Test cricketer had as embarrassing a day as Marnus Labuschagne’s in Perth on Sunday.
A poor man’s bumper barrage, a couple of overs of leg-spin more negative than an opposition leader – at least cricketers get penalised for it – a five-ball innings for three runs to follow a 52-ball innings for two the first time around, and a fatuous review; these were all unworthy of a man who has been a good servant of his team and his country.
Marnus Labuschagne departs Perth Stadium on Sunday, taking a review with him after being dismissed lbw.Credit: Getty Images
Labuschagne’s ignominy was Australia humiliation writ small.
Midway through day three, Australia had let slip a Test match they had all but won half-way through day one by so far that they resorted to the tactics of a harlequin, hoping to achieve by distraction what they could not by application. Only Labuschagne’s desperate review was in character.
Australia will lose this match by hundreds of runs, and with it all their emperor’s clothes. The rest of the series will be a dogfight at best. At least it is a series this time, not a cameo.
Australia drew criticism from old lags in the commentary box for not being nasty enough in its tactics and disposition. Remembering where such an attitude eventually led in a previous dispensation, that can be safely ignored. That time is past.
But undoubtedly, the Australians’ body language was limp. Little things were telling. With run-outs on, the Australians did not hit the stumps. They used to.
The much-decorated attack was at least persevering, but lacked a second wind. The Test match was taken away from them by a 22-year-old, who admittedly will be a superstar, and a makeshift in the opening role. We’d better get our heads around the idea of Yashasvi Jaiswal; he’s going to be inside them for a while.
One consequence of the openers’ heroics was to gift the struggling Virat Kohli, arriving at 2-275, the most comfortable century of the seven he has now scored against Australia. Whether that emboldens him or deludes him henceforth we will soon see.
The Australian team is ageing before our eyes. Yes, it still wins at a good rate, but it also loses carelessly. It was only this year that it lost to the West Indies at the Gabba, that erstwhile fortress.
Now it’s going down the gurgler to India in Perth. It’s not the WACA Ground, which once was another of Australia’s locks, but it behaves much like the WACA. And it’s where, because of commercial imperatives, Australia has committed to kicking off home series for the next two years.
And if anyone tries to blame the pitch here, see Indian openers, above.
Doubtlessly, there will be inquiries, plural; sports administrators never settle for one. They will be pointless if they do not concede that the system has let the team down, at least in part.
It’s a system that says one thing and does another. It spruiks the paramountcy of Test cricket, but constructs a program that marginalises it. By and large, the Australians played either no cricket, little cricket or other forms in the lead-up to this series. It’s too hard a game to be taken so lightly.
Australian skipper Pat Cummins searches for answers on Sunday as India storms to a total of 6-487 declared..Credit: AP
Captain Pat Cummins said that if anything, he preferred to come into a new series underdone. As an alibi, that sounds all too convenient.
India played three Tests. Yes, they lost them all, to New Zealand, but at least it was the right format.
Perhaps the way the game has evolved, the Australian summer with the Big Bash League at its heart cannot have any other shape. If so, say so. Don’t patronise us.
In a five-Test series, much can change. As veterans Rohit Sharma and perhaps Mohammed Shami return, and noting the bold performances of India’s newcomers, it has its own tricky territory to negotiate, but from a lovely position.
Meantime, if you think Jasprit Bumrah has been a frightening proposition in Perth, imagine him with a pink ball under the Adelaide Oval lights.
Australia must change, its outlook and perhaps its personnel. Nathan McSweeney has looked all at sea, but it would be grossly unfair to give him only one chance. Nonetheless, Australia must be thinking about how to hit refresh on the Test XI or find itself staring at the spinning wheel of death.
Presently, it looks like a certain football team we know that won a premiership recently and is still trying to win the same premiership again.
Watkins, by the way, though all at sea with the ball in his one and only Test, made difficult runs and contributed to Australia’s eventual win.
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