Former Australia cricketer Ian Healy was very critical of Australia’s chairman of selectors, George Bailey after India hammered them in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Perth. India registered their biggest-ever away win (in terms of run) by 295 runs in Perth even after getting bowled out for 150 in their first innings. Jasprit Bumrah, leading India in Rohit Sharma’s absence, took eight wickets in the match in a fast bowling display for the ages while Yashasvi Jaiswal (161), Virat Kohli (100*), KL Rahul (77) helped India put on a massive score in the second innings. Australia’s batters, barring Travis Head, who scored a counterattacking 89 in the second innings, failed to get going.
Healy, who played 119 Tests and 168 ODIs for Australia between 1988 and 1999, was miffed with Bailey’s presence in the Australian dugout. The fact that the former Australia captain also went on to shake hands with the Indian players irked the former wicketkeeper-batter more.
He was perplexed when Bailey took to the field after the game. “He went out and shook hands with everyone, he did the whole shaking hands in a conga line,” Healy told SEN Cricket.
“I would be thinking if I’m an Indian cricketer, ‘What do I need to shake your hand for, you’re the chairman of selectors? I just want to hurry up and get this win celebrated’,” he added.
Australia to go in with an unchanged side in second Test
Meanwhile, Australia head coach Andrew McDonald all but confirmed that Australia are likely to go with an unchanged side for the pink-ball Day-night Test against India in Adelaide, starting December 6.
Marnus Labuschagne, who has struggled for form with an average of just 13.66 in his last 10 Test innings, is under a lot of pressure.
However, McDonald said he has faith in Labuschagne’s abilities, describing him as “the player we need” and urging him to rediscover his form.
“That’s an ongoing discussion and that ebbs and flows in players’ careers, so at the moment he’s in one of those patches and no doubt he’ll be getting critiqued externally,” McDonald said. “But internally, we’re really confident that, at his best, he’s the player that we need.”
When asked if Labuschagne’s struggles were due to a technical issue, McDonald responded: “It’s always a combination of factors, isn’t it, with the mindset? “There’s some technical aspects to that also within the mindset play. So as I said, we’re really confident that he can turn that around.”
The decision to ask debutant Nathan McSweeney to open the innings backfired as he scored just 10 and 0 in his two innings. McSweeney had enjoyed success in first-class cricket, as had Beau Webster, but neither of them has the experience of being an opener.
“I think there’s been enough players banging down the door. I feel as though we’ve got some depth there if called upon,” he said.
“I think sometimes people look at the pure numbers of what’s happening in Shield cricket, but it’s sometimes hard to get a connection with the surfaces they’re playing on. So we feel as though we’ve got ample players available if called upon.”Despite the heavy defeat, McDonald said morale of the team was strong.
“I think we’ve got to own it, and we’ve got to own that as coaches as well. So there will be a semblance of review around what we have done and what we can learn from it,” McDonald said.
