How ugly defeat exposed cricket’s great ‘shame’; glaring truth behind new Aussie low — Talking Pts

Australia has been left with more questions than answers after sinking to a humbling 2-1 ODI series defeat to Pakistan this week.

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The tourists cruised to a comfortable eight-wicket victory over the Australians in the series decider at Perth Stadium on Sunday, with the team’s pace bowlers at their formidable best on the bouncy deck.

The reigning world champions were inadequate with the bat and in the field, with no Australian scoring a half-century across the three-match campaign.

Although attention turns swiftly to the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy, confidence will be low heading into next year’s Champions Trophy campaign in Pakistan.

‘SUCH A SHAME’: PACKED SCHEDULE LEAVES STARS SIDELINED

Each year the international cricket calendar resembles a massive puzzle where teams are fit as pieces wherever they can.

But that puzzle came at a cost this ODI series against Pakistan with Australia forced to leave five stars on the sidelines for the decider – including the likes of Steve Smith and captain Pat Cummins.

Joining them as Perth absentees were fellow Test stars Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood given the prized Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against India starts in the coming days.

The likes of Cam Bancroft, Beau Webster, Nathan McSweeney and Michael Neser were all also unavailable due to Australia A commitments against India A.

Australian cricket greats Adam Gilchrist, Mark Waugh and Brendan Julian agreed the timing of the ODI series wasn’t ideal.

“The thing is scheduling is always an issue,” Julian said.

“It is such a shame though.

“You come to Perth for the decider and then you replace five players.

“I mean you wouldn’t normally do that. You’d go: ‘I want my best team; I want to win this series’.

“It’s a shame we couldn’t get our best team out here because they are preparing for a Test match – which is fair enough, I get that, no doubt about it – but the scheduling is so tight.”

Waugh added: “It’s not ideal.

“Then we’ve got T20 starting at the end of this week as well.”

But the packed schedule isn’t just affecting the Aussies.

“To your point that you’re not sure how many of the Australian batting line up are in what we say form, or good touch, or getting any rhythm in their innings, I guess that’s part of the challenge,” Gilchrist said on Fox Cricket.

“We’ve seen five changes to the Australian team today. Smith and Labuschagne the two big names out of the batting, obviously the big three quicks as well. It’s symbolic of what’s going on around world cricket at the moment.

“In two weeks’ time, just under, the First Test is here Australia versus India. So that’s why those five guys sit out from the Australian perspective.

“If you have a look at the Indian set up at the moment … India at the moment have got a Test squad waiting to turn up here.

“They’ve got an India A team out here playing a couple of games against Australia A. They’ve also got a squad playing T20 internationals in South Africa.

“So they’ve got three squads basically on the go, so you’re looking there at your best part of 45-50 players all representing India at the same time.

“So the ability to draw on talent and resources that fill the voids of the various skill sets, it’s challenging for all the nations in what is a very, very packed cricketing schedule.

“And it doesn’t seem to be lightening up any either with more and more leagues outside of international cricket. So that’s the challenge.”

Aussie star Michael Hussey said the ODI series set up wasn’t ideal.

“I think in an ideal world, they would have thought, ‘Let’s win the first two and we can rest our stars, we’ve won the series’,” he said.

But after the shock loss in Adelaide, it was an understrength Australian line up left to fight out the decider.

‘EXPOSED’: GREAT ROASTS UNDERPERFORMING AUSSIES

Australia hit a new low in the ODI series loss to Pakistan – with no player reaching the 50-run milestone.

It’s the first time in history that a single Australian player hasn’t managed that feat in a bilateral men’s ODI series.

England great Michael Vaughan didn’t hold back with his criticism of Australia’s batting woes.

“Six for 91 is just not good enough for players that are trying to prove their worth at this level,” he said on Fox Cricket.

“Pakistan have been tremendous.

“You go back to the first game in Melbourne, it took a brilliant innings from the captain Pat Cummins to get Australia over the line.

“Let’s be honest, for three games I don’t remember seeing an Australian batting line up look so exposed.

“Three games on the trot against a bit of pace, a bit of movement – it’s not express, it’s not rapid. But they’ve been completely exposed.

“I’m just looking at the whole series, the Australian batting line up have been six down at the MCG inside the 21st over, six down at the Adelaide Oval inside the 26th over. And six down here inside the 21st over again.

“I just think they are better than that. They are a good team; they’ve got so much quality.

“You’ve got to remember they are world champions – the best team in the world.”

Aussie great Michael Hussey believes players were just too rushed with their innings, and would learn from their mistakes.

“It’s not going to win you a lot of games if you haven’t got players scoring big scores,” he said.

“You’ve got a bit of time, you can build that innings … turn that 20-30 into a 50-60 and then hopefully an 80-100, but that’s part of the development.

“Playing a lot of T20 cricket and seeing what’s happening around the world, batters these days are going really hard – playing high risk games.

“When it comes off, it looks great and it’s exciting for everyone to watch. But when it doesn’t in the face of high-quality bowling, you can get exposed.

“50 overs is sort of that in between game … you do have a bit more time.

“You can build an innings but the modern game seems to be more aggressive at all times.

“The players we’ve been selecting, you think of Jake Fraser-McGurk he’s an aggressive player, Matt Short’s an aggressive player … that seems like that’s the philosophy of where they want the game to go moving forward.

“Sometimes it doesn’t come off … and then we question what’s going on with the Australian batting order? But they are all very good players.

“They are still learning – some of these guys haven’t played a lot of international cricket, figuring out how hard to go, when to go, who against to go.”

The Aussies were rolled for just 163 in game two in Adelaide, and then followed that up with a 9-140 in the deciding game three after Cooper Connolly was forced to retire hurt.

YOUNG GUN URGED TO ‘BEND THE KNEE’ OR FIND ‘REAL TROUBLE’

Young Jake Fraser-McGurk defended his aggressive batting style earlier this week, stating he and fellow rookie opener Matt Short have a licence to attack.

But against Pakistan in the ODI series decider in Perth on Sunday, the 22-year-old failed once again as he was caught standing still for just 7 (9).

His dismissal was eerily similar to the way he was trapped LBW in game two in Adelaide for 13.

Aussie great Mark Waugh urged Fraser-McGurk to bend his knee to avoid getting trapped in the crease.

“You’d love to see him just bend that front knee, get more in line and over the ball with the head position,” he said on Fox Sports.

“At the moment he’s just standing pretty straight. Head back. And if there’s any movement, you’re in real trouble.

“He’s not happy with himself.

“Just needs to sharpen that defensive technique at the top.

“He basically looks like he’s been told he’s not allowed to move his feet at all – front or back. So he’s just standing in one spot … his hand co-ordination is the only thing that he’s got going for him striking the ball.”

England cricket great Michael Vaughan agreed Fraser-McGurk needed more footwork if he was to succeed.

“That’s another opportunity for Jake Fraser-McGurk and he fails again,” he said.

“It’s a good ball – it’s a decent length. You look at the shot, you look at the foot movement and it’s non-existent.

“Against quality where there’s a little bit of shape through the air, you’re going to be very inconsistent playing in that fashion.

“It’s now two in two from Jake Fraser-McGurk on that front foot where he just doesn’t seem to bend that front knee at all. Very rigid.

“(In Adelaide) there’s just no bend whatsoever. If he can bend it, get a little bit closer to the ball, he’ll be able to control it that little bit better.

“A little bit more bend in Perth (compared to the Adelaide dismissal) but it’s not enough. Not enough foot movement. You can see there the lack of balance as well.”

Fraser-McGurk was clearly frustrated with himself as he made his way from the field on Sunday.

Aussie legend Adam Gilchrist warned the youngster he needed to adjust.

“I think opposition teams canvassing the footage and doing the research, they’ll see exactly that (lack of footwork). With that technique, a long overpitched half volley, fine. You’re going to be able to get on top of that and hit it with great authority,” he explained.

“If you’re too short, you can rock back – almost like the baseball swing that is in the modern game. But anything of decent length, good length is just going to expose that every time.

“If there’s any sort of movement laterally, you leave yourself wide open.”

The criticism comes just days after Fraser-McGurk was urged to find a “second gear” playing for Australia.

The youngster has managed five ODIs in 2024 – averaging just 17.4 with the bat.

But Fraser-McGurk says he will remain aggressive in a bid to get his side off to a “flyer”.

“You know the game’s changing – and that’s sort of the way we want to play our cricket, is really take on those first 10 overs instead of scrapping to 240-250 which aren’t really winnable scores out here,” he said.

“If we get off to a flyer in the first 10, it sets up a nice platform for the boys in the middle.”