Tackling India with a Dukes-brand ball on an early-summer pitch at The Oval might carry little in common with the recent four-Test series on the subcontinent, but Australia believes lessons harshly learned earlier this year might prove useful over coming months in England.
Pat Cummins’ men relinquished hopes of reclaiming the Border-Gavaskar Trophy during 90 minutes of mayhem in the second Test at Delhi last February when their batting was gripped by a mania that saw nine wickets fall for just 48 runs, paving the way for India’s six-wicket win.
During the 10 days of soul-searching that followed that bitter defeat, the Australian players and coaching staff took stock of what went wrong and assessed the dressing room had effectively become ‘spooked’ by the speed at which batters were tumbling and the disaster was unfolding.
While pitch conditions in India for the first three Tests of that four-match series were extreme, it’s also recognised that England – where the ball can swing viciously, and home-crowd support is every bit as parochially relentless – is another location where matches can unravel at pace.
Witness the Trent Bridge Test of 2015, when Australia were sent in on a grey first morning and bowled out for 60 before the lunch break.
And that was years before England began adopted their current ‘Bazball’ approach to playing Tests at warp speed.
Prior to departing Australia last week for the World Test Championship final and subsequent Ashes campaign, men’s team coach Andrew McDonald acknowledged a key finding from the India trip was to stick to their playing blueprint even when things go awry, but also to slow down proceedings in those circumstances.
“I think that’s something we probably learned about ourselves was ‘don’t pivot when you don’t need to’,” McDonald told Melbourne radio station SEN.
“One thing we really felt was we got rushed in that (Delhi) game, and things happened all too quickly.
“So we need to take time and space within a game, and reset ball by ball.
“We probably lost that, and things sped up on us.
“And by admission from the players and from the coaching staff, before we knew it the Test match was gone.
During the 10 days of soul-searching that followed that bitter defeat, the Australian players and coaching staff took stock of what went wrong and assessed the dressing room had effectively become ‘spooked’ by the speed at which batters were tumbling and the disaster was unfolding.
While pitch conditions in India for the first three Tests of that four-match series were extreme, it’s also recognised that England – where the ball can swing viciously, and home-crowd support is every bit as parochially relentless – is another location where matches can unravel at pace.
Witness the Trent Bridge Test of 2015, when Australia were sent in on a grey first morning and bowled out for 60 before the lunch break.
And that was years before England began adopted their current ‘Bazball’ approach to playing Tests at warp speed.
Prior to departing Australia last week for the World Test Championship final and subsequent Ashes campaign, men’s team coach Andrew McDonald acknowledged a key finding from the India trip was to stick to their playing blueprint even when things go awry, but also to slow down proceedings in those circumstances.
“I think that’s something we probably learned about ourselves was ‘don’t pivot when you don’t need to’,” McDonald told Melbourne radio station SEN.
“One thing we really felt was we got rushed in that (Delhi) game, and things happened all too quickly.
Source:- Cricket AU