Australian media describes team\u2019s nine-wicket loss as one of country\u2019s biggest Test \u201chumiliations\u201d
\n SYDNEY
\nA home series against Bangladesh may have seemed the perfect chance for Australia to shake off rust and ease into a huge year of test cricket, but the shambolic defeat to the South Asian side in Darwin has the top-ranked hosts searching for answers to uncomfortable questions about their future.
\nAustralia\u2019s nine-wicket loss, completed on Sunday inside four days, was variously described in local media as one of the country\u2019s biggest test humiliations following domination by ninth-ranked Bangladesh. The second and final test in Mackay, Queensland, starting on Saturday, now carries far more weight than anticipated.
\nNothing less than a thumping win to level the series will convince fans and a skeptical home media that the Darwin debacle was an aberration rather than a clear sign of a team in inexorable decline. \u201cLet\u2019s call this out for the gob-smacking shambles that it was … Australia\u2019s nine wicket loss to Bangladeshis both the greatest upset in Test history and the most humbling Test loss ever suffered by an Australian cricket team,\u201d veteran cricket writer Robert Craddock opined in the Courier Mail newspaper.
\n\u201cNone of Australia\u2019s 236 Test losses over 150 years quite compare to it.\u201d Captain Pat Cummins did not seek to downplay Australia\u2019s underperformance in the post-match press conference, but his remark that they lost the match on day one, when their batters could manage only 198 in the first innings, was wide of the mark. Australia lost on every day, in every session, in every facet.
\nMost of the scrutiny has trained on the faulty parts in Australia\u2019s batting machinery. The problems are by no means new but were allowed to fester over the home summer as the team cantered to a 4-1 Ashes win over a lamentable England. Opener Jake Weatherald has done little to convince his game can stand up in the test arena and may have one more chance in Mackay, at best.
\nMarnus Labuschagne, too, will be feeling the heat after two poor dismissals in Darwin. Once a world-beater in Australia\u2019s top order, Labuschagne\u2019s continuing struggles are pressuring teammates lower down the order. Head coach Andrew McDonald and his staff may no longer be able to ignore calls for regeneration despite a paucity of young batters demanding selection with a weight of runs in domestic cricket.
\nAustralia\u2019s bowling quality has long carried the team but the Bangladesh match offered a glimpse of their ageing attack\u2019s mortality. The champion pace trio of Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc have over 1,000 test wickets between them, but toiled in the Darwin heat as Bangladesh piled on 426 for a 228-run lead. Spinner Nathan Lyon, 39 in November, was comprehensively out-bowled on his home pitch by Bangladesh\u2019s part-time off-spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz.
\nWith pride stung, Australia can be expected to rebound strongly in Mackay. Selectors may be inclined to give the existing squad a chance to make amends and prove Darwin was a one-off. But with a three-test tour of South Africa, the World Test champions, looming in October, Australia may have to look beyond short-term redemption and make the tough decisions now. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Australian media describes team\u2019s nine-wicket loss as one of country\u2019s biggest Test \u201chumiliations\u201d SYDNEY A home series against Bangladesh may have seemed the perfect chance for Australia to shake off rust and ease into a huge year of test cricket, but the shambolic defeat to the South Asian side in Darwin has the top-ranked hosts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":562441,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-562422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n