Serious sports issue

[Gob]

What can Darren Leaman do to renew Aus's chances? I'm seeing them vs the Boers in November and want to see a decent match.

DUBAI: Australia's Middle East mission is in a spin after a horror first Test revealed an out-of-form captain, raised concerns over their underperforming spinners and renewed fears over the team's ability to play slow bowling.



Journeyman spinner Zulfiqar Babar applied the knockout blow to Australia on Sunday, consigning the visitors to a 221-run defeat - their heaviest Test loss (by runs) against Pakistan in 26 years.

Steve Smith and Mitchell Johnson pushed the match into a final session after compiling stoic half-centuries but do not let Australia's dogged late resistance mask the issues which emerged over the past five days in Dubai.

They are numerous, difficult to ignore, and eerily reminiscent of the debacle in India last year.

The No.1 ranking had been within reach for Australia this series only several days ago but the first Test has shown Michael Clarke's side are only world beaters when conditions suit. And they rarely do in Asia, whether it be the dustbowls of India or the slow and dry decks of the Middle East.

Coach Darren Lehmann has only three days to rebuild the dented confidence of his shellshocked team, which was comprehensively outplayed by the world No.6. And he has numerous problems to repair, little time to find solutions.

Most pressing is arguably Australia's batting woes after their vulnerabilities against spin were preyed upon by Pakistan.

Anyone who denies it is not a problem must be living in denial. Australia lost 15 wickets to the unheralded spin duo of Babar and debutant Yasir Shah and the part-time offies of opening batsman Mohammad Hafeez.

The Australians crumbled for 216, making a deck which Pakistan lost just two wickets in their second innings appear a minefield.

Only David Warner, Steve Smith and Mitchell Johnson passed 50 in either innings, the latter pair doing so after two lives, while six failed to reach double figures in the doomed run chase.

That Australia's bottom three, with assistance from Smith, were able to survive 44 overs only highlighted how poorly their frontline batsmen fared.

Babar, 35, (5-74) completed his maiden five-for when he removed Peter Siddle to end Australia's stonewalling while Shah was again impressive, his four-wicket haul including key pair Clarke and Smith and the gallant Johnson.

Australia was not helped by a poor Test from Clarke, not only the team's best batsman but, along with Smith, their most accomplished against spin. His twin failures take his run tally this tour to 20 from four hits.

And though it is too early to declare Clarke to be in a form slump, he is only a shadow of the imperious batsman who defied a fractured shoulder to make an unbeaten 161 against South Africa's powerful pace attack in his last Test in March.

Clarke is paying the price after a long break and an injury-interrupted preparation. Although his commitment to training is exemplary, there are only so many balls he can hit between now and the second Test - and even that is no substitute to time in the middle.

There will be pressure for Rod Marsh and Lehmann to make changes for the second Test though swinging the axe could be construed as a sign of panic.

At most peril will be No.3 Alex Doolan, who ran himself out for five in the first innings and made a five-ball duck in the second only a week after making a century in the tour game.

His Test record after four games is underwhelming, with an average of 24 having passed 50 only once in eight innings, and his credentials against spin not convincing.

But his most likely replacement Phil Hughes is not renowned for his play of spin though is understood to have improved after long sessions with Muttiah Muralitharan.

A left-field move would be to recall all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, who is an excellent player of spin and would provide an extra spin-bowling option, though that would require a major reshuffle of the batting line-up.

The performance of spin duo Nathan Lyon and Stephen O'Keefe will also be of concern to selectors.

The pair were outbowled by their Pakistan counterparts, with Lyon returning match figures of 2-220 and O'Keefe faring marginally better with 4-219.

Neither player was able to place anywhere near the sort of pressure on Pakistan as Babar and Shah applied to Australia. But they bowled when batting was easiest on the first two days and had nothing on the scoreboard to defend in the second innings.

Hopes of a miraculous draw were revived during a tense middle session during which Smith and Johnson added 65 runs for the eighth wicket.

Smith's 230-minute vigil ended when he used his feet to Shah and tucked one off his pads to Asad Shafiq at short leg.

The end was nigh five overs after tea when Johnson was given out stumped, for 61, by the video umpire, who deemed the batsman to be millimetres out of his ground.

AUSTRALIA'S TEST RECORD IN 2014

* Played 5, won 3, lost 2

* Won by 281 runs v England at SCG, Jan

* Won by 281 runs v South Africa at Centurion, Feb

* Lost by 231 runs v South Africa at Port Elizabeth, Feb

* Won by 245 runs v South Africa at Cape Town, March

* Lost by 221 runs v Pakistan at Dubai

[Lord Jim]

Serious sports issue

Where?

Oh wait a minute, I get it, that was sarcasm...

Good one...

[wesw]

I wish there was a cricket field around here. I think that us guys who s bodies can t handle baseball anymore would enjoy a lazy afternoon...

[wesw]

... I m not wearing any silly pads to bat tho!

[Lord Jim]

I think that us guys who s bodies can t handle baseball anymore would enjoy a lazy afternoon...

That's a good point wes...

It would also be good for the guys whose bodies can't handle shuffleboard anymore...

There'd probably be a good market for setting up cricket fields in retirement communities...

[Lord Jim]

Australia lost 15 wickets to the unheralded spin duo of Babar and debutant Yasir Shah

Australia lost to a French cartoon elephant



and a debutante?



No wonder they're upset...

[Gob]

Now you get how serious things are!!

[rubato]

Afghanis learning the English are going to try to cross the Khyber pass again?


Muslims being told that the Koran had been misinterpreted and pork was required not forbidden. They're shouting "bacon, bacon, bacon".


Cricket players being told the entire sport is being cancelled for pointlessness and they don't have to play that awful game any more. They all switched to squash and lived out their lives in peace.


yrs,
rubato

[Gob]

Here's one solution.

Dean Jones is calling for a radical shift in the way Australian batsmen face spin after yet another humiliating Test defeat in Asia.

The former Test star wants Australian batsmen to practise facing spin bowling without pads, not as punishment for their failure in Dubai but to teach them to play with their bat in front of their leg.

As long as the batsman does not miss the ball, that would take out leg before wicket as a mode of dismissal and also reduce his susceptibility to being a bat-pad candidate to the close-in fielders.

The Australians lost 15 wickets to spin in the first Test, and a repeat in the second and final Test, starting on Thursday in Abu Dhabi, would be a huge impediment to the visitors levelling the series.


"If I was 'Boof' [coach Darren Lehmann] now, I'd be asking the boys to practise with no pads to spinners in the nets, I'll allow thigh pads," said Jones, who was one of Australia's finest players of spin in the 1980s and `90s and made a famous double century in the tied Test in Chennai in 1986.

"We have a tendency to lunge with our foot first and then our hands. These guys [Pakistan] get their head and their hands at the ball. We have a tendency to go head, foot, hands.

"They've got to get their hands in front of the pad.

"The Indians, who are the best players, go head, hands with the ball. They keep their feet out of it. They back themselves on hitting the ball and not using the pads."

It would mark a significant shift in the way Australians face spin were they to embrace Jones' theory, though he feels it would work on pitches in Asia.

"It's completely different," Jones said. "We're the English way, with bat and pad together, and that works at home to counteract the bounce. Here, it doesn't bounce that much."

Jones' advice is similar to a tip Indian batting great Rahul Dravid gave Kevin Pietersen.

"When you have no pads it will force you, sometimes painfully, to get the bat forward of the pads and will force you to watch the ball," Dravid wrote in an email to Pietersen published in the former England star's autobiography.

"Also the leg will be less keen to push out without any protection. My coach would tell me you should never need pads to play spin!!"

Jones, who commentated on the game for the local broadcaster, said the Dubai pitch was no "spitting cobra" and accused the Australians of being in denial regarding their frailties against spin.

"The thing that worries me the most is not one of the guys has really been bowled out properly," Jones said. "We've missed straight ones; it's not what we call spitting cobras and being caught off gloves and at first slip. There hasn't been any of that.

"They've been beaten off length, beaten by the pitches looking different. They haven't swept enough, they don't know where to get a one when under pressure, just some basic stuff.

"And they're in denial. They've got a problem, 75 per cent of the wickets have fallen to spin."

David Warner's positivity had helped him succeed, Jones said, while Smith's willingness to use his feet against the spinners was also effective.

"I know our guys have been preparing but I wonder whether or not they understand the bottom half of their body to play spin and I don't think they do," Jones said.

"What I love about Smith is how he counteracts the ball from turning – get to it on the full. And where can I get one? They don't know where they can get one, a lot of them.

"Interestingly, the worst player of playing spin in this team has been [Chris] Rogers and he stuck it out better than everyone else."

[wesw]

I agree with that, even tho I ve never played cricket. that s the way you catch a hard hit ball to third. first you get closer to the batter , , then put your face in front of the ball if you can. the best way not to get hurt is to catch the ball!

sounds like the same theory works for batting in cricket. put the bat on the ball and your legs are safe.

[oldr_n_wsr]

And here I though it was a "how to don hazmat suit" video from the CDC.

[Lord Jim]

I was thinking maybe an ice cream salesman's convention...

[Gob]

ABU DHABI: It's a dreadful, record-smashing statistic.


The average of runs conceded per wicket taken of 80.15 by Michael Clarke's team in the two-Test series against Pakistan is Australia's worst in a series in their 137-year history of Test cricket.

It comfortably eclipses the second-worst of 26 wickets at 62.46 in India in 1985-86 under Allan Border.

Advertisement When Australia were thrashed 4-0 in India early last year, each wicket cost their bowlers 43.80 runs, according to cricinfo.com.

A sign outside the Sharjah stadium which hosted last month's opening one-day game between Australia and Pakistan said: "Graveyard."

Australia won that one-day series three-nil but their bowlers soon found the pitches devoid of life for the Dubai and Abu Dhabi Tests, in keeping with the sign in Sharjah.

Australia's bowlers have managed to take 20 wickets against Pakistan - but they needed two Tests to do so.

Things haven't gone entirely smoothly for Australia's new fielding consultant, former Test batsman Greg Blewett either.

Pakistan's century-makers on Sunday - Misbah-ul-Haq and Azhar Ali - were dropped on four and 68 respectively.

Two key chances went begging in the first Test in Dubai and there have been plenty more in Abu Dhabi,plus run out chances, stumping opportunities, and 23 byes in Pakistan's second innings of 3-293 declared.

The problems were exacerbated as Brad Haddin, nursing an injured shoulder, was rested from the wicketkeeping duties and David Warner and Glenn Maxwell tried their best as back-up glovemen.

Skipper Michael Clarke's only damaging bowler Mitchell Johnson was struggling with a sore hip on Sunday, adding to Australia's problems.

Australia coach Darren Lehmann said losing the toss twice and having to bowl in good batting conditions didn't help.

"They have worked bloody hard on unresponsive wickets," Lehmann said.

"The advantage of batting first is (the pitch) doesn't do too much and Pakistan have batted well enough to bat for two days in the first two Test matches.

"There's less reverse (swing) in the first two days of a game because the wicket's less abrasive.

"As it gets on there's more reverse as they showed and then we showed today.

"That's sometimes a big advantage."

AUSTRALIA'S PACE-BOWLING FIGURES IN TWO-TEST SERIES

* Mitchell Johnson 6 wickets at 29.50

* Peter Siddle 2 at 108.50

* Mitchell Starc 2 at 71.00

* Mitchell Marsh 0-110

SPIN BOWLERS

* Nathan Lyon 3 at 140.66

* Steve O'Keefe 4 at 54.75

* Seven Smith 3 at 48.33

* Glenn Maxwell 0-78.

AAP