Abandoning a proven approach

Ricky Ponting apparently blundered by bowling his part-time and non-recognised bowlers at a time when the fourth Test was still redeemable.-AP

With its non-aggressive, unfamiliar appearance in the Nagpur Test against India, the Aussie side wore an aspect which might have been mistaken for bodyline in passive reverse! By Frank Tyson.

In the aftermath of Australia’s 172-run loss to India in the Nagpur Test, and Ponting’s 2-0 series defeat at the hands of the Indian side, Australia’s ‘Blame Game’ has shifted into top gear. And it is the Aussie skipper who is copping most of the flak for these reverses, squarely in the neck.

Ponting apparently blundered by bowling his part-time and non-recognised bowlers at a time when the fourth Test was still redeemable. He compounded this error by passing over the weary pace of the discountenanced paceman, Brett Lee, making minimal use of the usually reliable ‘leftie,’ Mitchell Johnson — preferring the left-arm orthodox spin of Michael Clarke to the dubious leggies of Cameron White, the medium pace of Hussey, the infrequent left-arm spin of Katich and the steady negativity of Shane Watson.

The rationale behind these strange decisions was the desire to complete the mandatory daily bowling allocation of 90 overs, thus avoiding the possible penalty of a match suspension for skipper, Ponting, or a team fine. Ultimately and ironically, all that the Aussie skipper succeeded in achieving was an inability to win the match nor yet even draw it! Shamefully, Ponting fell back on a defensive field which saw him instruct his bowlers to bowl wide of the off-stump to a field of a single fieldsman on the leg-side: a tactic which brought down on his head the universal criticism of the watching phalanx of ex-captains and the accusation of putting his own interests ahead of the team’s welfare.

He was also damned for committing Australia to a policy of negative cricket — and abandoning the aggressive approach which had previously brought Australia an unbroken sequence of 16 Test victories and destroyed what had now become a habit of Ponting’s: that of asking his bowlers for wickets and spurning containment. With its non-aggressive, unfamiliar appearance the Aussie side wore an aspect which might have been mistaken for bodyline in passive reverse!

I am no great fan of the Taswegian’s leadership, but in Nagpur I was one of the first to leap to his defence. If the blame for Australia’s double loss was to attach to anyone it was not of the diminutive Apple Islander’s making. Rather it should have been laid on the selection table and sheeted home to the Aussie selectors — Border, Hilditch and Hughes. The truth was that Australia went into the series and the Nagpur Test, short of two frontline bowlers — a fault of timidity traceable to the Oval Test of 2006/07. The preponderance of the bowlers whom they chose were incapable of bowling an over in less than four minutes and required a much longer period to slow down the Indian strike-rate. They were lucky that Krejza turned in a record 12 wickets on his debut. Ponting’s misfortune was that his off-spinner’s wickets cost him dear — 358 runs — far from a match-winning performance! Australia sorely missed Symonds — both as an aggressive number six batsman and in his dual bowling capacity of off-spinner/cum swing bowler — an invaluable asset on the turning wickets of the sub-continent. Moreover, ‘Roy’ Symonds was worth 40 runs to any captain in the field.

Retrospectively Australia had most of the luck and it was all bad. It began with the injury to Bryce Macgain and may not yet have ended. However, it has to be said that Australia contributed to its own downfall, particularly in the area of shot selection.

Matty Hayden, for instance, forgot his batting basics when he essayed to sweep a bouncing leg-spinner from 40cms outside his off-stump only to top-edge a catch to square-leg. And Ponting’s rash pull in his second innings was totally out of character for the serious business of a Test match. Importantly Australia lost its Test match impetus — as its inept batting performance against New Zealand was to prove in the next Test.

What it needs now to re-establish its status is a youthful Keith Miller able to bowl spin or pace off six paces and hit like a kicking mule. So the Aussie World Cricket Champs are dead — Long live the New Indian World Champs!