Strategic Time-Out: How To Lose A Match Before A Ball Is Bowled

In the latest of our series on strategy in cricket, we discuss Australia’s T20 woes…

George Bailey was announced as Australia’s T20 captain in January this year, a decision that raised more than a few eyebrows in Australian cricket.

Here was a man who had never played for the national side before, and had endured a torrid Big Bash, where he averaged just 19 and scored at a pedestrian strike-rate of 110.

It was one of the most left-field selections in recent international cricket, and although John Inverarity’s masterplan still might work out, there are many questions which must be raised with the World T20 just a couple of weeks away – as it stands, Australia are poised to drop below Ireland in the ICC rankings.

Australia were absolutely hammered by Pakistan in their first T20 at Dubai. They were bundled out for 89 all out, managing just three boundaries in their entire innings – the second-lowest total in the history of T20Is.

However, Australia’s undoing was apparent before the match had even started, with some tactical howlers that call into question the tactical nous for which Bailey was selected in the first place.

On paper, Australia have one of the strongest batting sides imaginable – a top three of Warner, Watson and Mike Hussey is the stuff of dreams, and with back-up batsmen such as David Hussey (2nd leading T20 scorer of all time) and the big-hitting Glenn Maxwell, Bailey certainly can’t claim that his side is short on talent and experience.

So, what did Australia do wrong, and how can they put things right?

1. Eight specialist batsmen. Historically, piling your side with batsmen is a terrible move in T20, as it lends itself to batsmen playing irresponsibly and with muddled minds, in the hope that if one gun batsman fails, there are several to come who should make up the shortfall.

Eight specialist batsmen to bat out 20 overs is the cricketing equivalent of Super Size Me.

Packing your side with batsmen of course also means that your bowling becomes fatally weakened – Australia played just three specialist bowlers and Shane Watson in the first T20, and were seemingly going to rely on four part-time overs from Maxwell, White and David Hussey.

This means that even if your batsmen rack up a huge score, your part-time bowlers are likely to come under huge pressure. And part-timers under pressure tend to go the distance…

Prime example: Deccan Chargers in IPL 1 packed their side with batting firepower, with the likes of Symonds, Gibbs, Styris, Rohit Sharma, Afridi, Gilchrist et al…but their bowling was so poor that occurrences like this were commonplace. Teams like Somerset and Delhi Daredevils are other classic examples of top-heavy sides – inevitably, they crumble under pressure.

2. Play Brad Hogg. 41-year old Hogg has played more T20 cricket than anyone in the world this year: he played for Perth Scorchers, Cape Cobras, Sylhet Sultans, Rajasthan Royals, and most recently, Wayamba United in the Sri Lankan Premier League.

He has flummoxed batsmen all over the world, has a wealth of experience, and an excellent record – a T20 average of 18.8 and an E/R of 6.6 puts Hogg up there with the best spinners in the world right now, and his wrong ‘un has proven to be a secret weapon that few batsmen have been able to pick.

Yet, in the first T20, Australia picked Xavier Doherty as their spinner – a T20 average of 43.5 with an E/R of 7.8 doesn’t even bear comparison with Hogg.

3. Play Mitchell Starc. Mitch 2.0 was top wicket-taker in England’s Friends Life T20 competition, with 18 wickets in 9 games. He followed this up with an excellent ODI series against Pakistan, with 9 wickets in 3 matches @ 18.11.

A no-brainer, right? Apparently not.

Australia instead chose to play Patrick Cummins, who has played just nine matches in the last nine months. Even though Cummins has awesome potential, right now he does not deserve a place on merit in Australia’s first XI.

4. Make the tough call. In an ideal world, Michael Clarke would still be T20 captain – after all, he is their best player of spin, and this World Cup is being held in spin-friendly conditions. Considering Australia have played just a handful of T20s in the past year, it was certainly counter-productive for Clarke to retire, only to be replaced by a lesser player.

However, if Bailey must start, then it seems as if Cameron White is the unfortunate one who must be dropped. In an ideal world, having struck a rich vein of form in the IPL, White would still be captain and command a place well ahead of Bailey, but as they say in Italy: “That’s the way the cantuccini crumbles.”

Glenn Maxwell proved himself in the ODI series and has a 19-ball fifty to his name. As well as being relied on for some part-time off-spin, Maxwell verges on being an auto-pick.

In his international career to date, Bailey’s pacing is out of the same book as Chanderpaul and Kallis – plenty of nurdling and generally one-paced. These players have all put pressure on their teammates when they have failed to convert starts, as 18 off 20 and 25 off 30 have the potential to stall an innings.

I particularly worry about Bailey in a tall chase, but I suppose he’ll have to be accommodated at 4 as a ‘stabilizer’. If Australia are going well, then David Hussey and Maxwell should be promoted without hesitation.

Final XI and Batting Order:

David Warner, Shane Watson, Mike Hussey, George Bailey (c), David Hussey, Matthew Wade (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Brad Hogg, Mitchell Starc, Ben Hilfenhaus, Xavier Doherty.

This XI has balance to it. A powerhouse top three is one with many gears and certainly to be feared.

Suddenly, the bowling has plenty of options – we have often repeated that a key mantra in T20 is ‘Spin It To Win It’. With Doherty and Hogg as specialists, and back-up in the form of Maxwell and David Hussey, Australia have some good spinners at their disposal. With plenty of options, Doherty in particular should be considered as an opening bowler to right-handers.

Hilfenhaus enjoyed a stellar IPL, Starc is in excellent form, and Watson has improved his ODI and T20 bowling leaps and bounds in the last year, to become one of the most underrated and frugal medium-pacers in the business.

With five front-line bowlers and two back-up spin options, and this Australian side has swiftly gone from being woefully top-heavy to being as well-balanced as a Japanese diet.

Australia still have an outside chance of success at the World T20, but to do that, they need to first make sure that they play their best team.