‘Too much theory, too little cricket’

Former opener Hayden says Australia have never had it so bad after being whitewashed by South Africa


The Australians are known to whitewash the opposition, not get whitewashed themselves. But of late, such embarrassments have become too frequent. There has not been much display of the famed ugly Aussie fighting spirit.


The Aussies have had whitewashes in all three formats in the last nine-odd months — by India in Twenty20 (3-0 at home), by Sri Lanka in Tests (3-0 away) and by South Africa in the ODIs (5-0, away) on Wednesday. Australian cricket has never been so bad in its history and Matthew Hayden admits that the cricket Down Under has been going downhill.


“The last six months has not been the best period for Australian cricket,” Hayden said, a day after the Aussies were blanked by South Africa in the five-match ODI series. “We are not finding our feet in any version of the game at the moment. We were whitewashed in Sri Lanka and that spells trouble for us in India, come February.”


According to Hayden, the cause of the slide is over-emphasis on sports science and sports theories. “There is too much sports science and too less cricket. The emphasis on physiologists and physiotherapists is not ideal. They have had too much influence on the players. The testing, the scrutiny over the number of overs being bowled, grass-root cricket level… I can list 20 different factors that had a direct influence on the game. I think cricket heads should be allowed to head the game. The sports scientists, trainers and physiotherapists have their place, but at the end of the day, when you are an athlete you have to be good at your game — you have to bat well, bowl well and field well. Justin Langer once said ‘your only commodity is your runs. That’s it’.”


But Hayden says the world champions were done in by injuries in South Africa. “No discredit to South Africa, but when your permanent players are missing, it becomes difficult. They (SA) have had magnificent run chases — twice over-350-run targets. It showed that the Australian bowling was not up to the mark and that is because some main bowlers were out of action. We were vulnerable, no matter how many runs we scored. Mitchell Starc was badly missed.”


He equated with India missing R Ashwin and Virat Kohli. “If Ashwin is injured and if Virat is coming off an injury, it would be difficult for India as well. Every team relies on two-three in-form game-changers. For me, Starc is one such player and without him, the Australian bowling is average. The World Cup side was completely different.”"



SHOCK AND AUS


» For the first time in their ODI history, Australia were blanked 5-0 in a series.


» South Africa’s average score in the series was 305.


» In five matches Australia managed to take only 28 wickets at an average of 54.39.


» The best economy by an Australian bowler in the series was 6.33 by Scott Boland.


» SA’s 372-run chase at Durban is the second highest successful chase in ODI history.


» 8 of the 10 highest chases in ODIs have now come against Australia.


—Rajneesh Gupta