Australia’s old habits to the fore again
Aconservative mindset in the Australian cricket team leadership surfaced alarmingly on the third night in Perth. It’s been there for some time and, while it has formed a positive base overall for a team climbing out of uncertainty, the strange submission of the batting order shows how far they still have to travel.
How the Australians lost the initiative owed more to their attitude than to a willing New Zealand bowling effort. Neil Wagner and Tim Southee invited the home batsmen to attack a monotony of short balls, but instead the Australians responded with all the energy of crash-test dummies. They paid a five-wicket price in Saturday’s last hour.
That it came to this ought to bring some self-examination. In the third innings, Australia had the Kiwis floored. Once again, only Marnus Labuschagne was able to bat with the mindset of a 300-run lead. The others treated New Zealand with respect.
New Zealand, to their great credit, were finally acclimatising. In Perth, a locality which is a little different no matter where you are from, the Black Caps have played three days of cricket in 40-degree heat, on a firm bouncy pitch, against an opponent confident of winning, albeit in five days rather than three.
Two weeks ago, these same New Zealanders were happily grinding out a series win in their lush climes, on a funereal surface, against lacklustre England. Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.
In some ways, losing the toss and bowling might have been a blessing for the Kiwis. The test within the test for the tourists was always going to be batting, and even though Australia were quickly short-staffed, it was New Zealand who came up short. In their first innings, batsman after batsman strived to make adjustments to their game as they went along. They were never going to be fast enough for Mitchell Starc in his first spells.
Starc continued his summer of improvement with one of his best new-ball spells in seasons, followed by another excellent burst on Saturday. The muchdiscussed technical change to his action has produced far greater consistency without any loss in velocity, a sweet spot for any bowler. With his self-confidence restored, Starc is running up to the crease like a man in control rather than living in hope.
There was clearly a mental leap he had had to negotiate, and also the adjustment since South Africa in 2018 to using a ball that cannot be expected, like a 90-yearold driver, to veer about as it grows old. His bowling here was even more meritorious for the loss of Josh Hazlewood after eight balls on Friday night. The forecast swing in momentum caused by Hazlewood’s hamstring injury did not occur – or has not occurred yet – and this was due chiefly to Starc’s skill and energy.
He did not operate in a vacuum. Patrick Cummins bowled far better than his figures, and Nathan Lyon’s shadow has begun to loom ominously over New Zealand’s second innings already.
The circus act belonged to Steve Smith with his parallel-tothe-horizon bodywork to catch Kane Williamson. Comparisons to Allan Border’s 1985 slips catch were inevitable, but there were equally valid echoes of Smith himself on previous occasions. He has reached that stage of his career, in the field as with the bat, where he is competing against his own heights.
The dominant Australian bowling and fielding performance only adds extra lustre to the innings played by Ross Taylor. At 35, Taylor might have reached his career twilight, but a creaking veteran could not have met the Australian charge, under lights, on a zipping wicket, with such aplomb. Taylor’s defence was sharp but his counter-attack was quite brilliant. Like Virat Kohli’s batting on this wicket last summer, it was an innings that stopped before it could turn the match, but a gem nonetheless.