What has happened to Australia’s batsmen?

A season or two ago CA basically forced the states to prepare flatter tracks. It was considered that one of the reasons batsmen were struggling was because of the really bowler friendly pitches being produced across the country, as the Shield points system rewards outright results so heavily, teams wanted to make sure of results, rather than create pitches likely to result in matches going deep into the fourth day.

It always seemed a strange argument, as surely batting in tougher batting conditions should improve batting technique. But we aren’t seeing any benefit of that on the international stage!

Well I can't say I am not happy about this new lapse in form by Australia! The big three of India, England and Australia needs to be beaten and lose their top rankings to the likes of South Africa and Sri Lanka and force a review for the hijacking of the game by them.

yes..fuh the us' time in many years I want India to get deh arse cut..england and Oz too...

best fuh dem to beat each other den the rest of the world take care of the pieces.

if west indies were not such a sh(1)ty entity deh cud have been ably assisting in this project too..like another 20 year run at the top..to kill the hijacking trio

One thing that shouldn't be overlooked - and this applies to all teams, not just Australia - is the fact that many of best Test batsman are not used to playing in English conditions. Throughout the 70's, 80's and 90's, players would spend a season playing domestic county cricket in England. This allowed them to adjust to the swing, seam and pitch conditions. These days, most players would prefer to travel the world playing T20 matches as opposed to putting in the craft of playing first-class cricket.

A few months back I wrote about the difficulty teams face in winning overseas. Over the last three years, South Africa are the only team with a winning record away from home.

stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/i...te=results;type=team

"Australia’s most prolific batsman over the last 12 months, Steve Smith, has played like a novice. He is a flat-track bully on easy batting pitches but in six innings on the three Test-match pitches where the ball has moved laterally he has had a bad technique and he has shown poor shot selection and an inability to graft or work for runs. In those six innings he has scored 92 runs. Pathetic." - Geoff Boycott

Batsmen have grown accustomed to either flat pitches (India, UAE and WI) or hard, bouncy pitches (SA, Aus). The cloudy, swing friendly conditions of England and New Zealand catch them off guard.

Remember even ABDV, arguably the best batsman today, failed in England back in 2012/13ish. In that series, the Brits prepared 2 flat tracks and then a deadly pitch in the third game, similar to what they did in this last Ashes. There, if I remember correctly, Finn and Anderson rolled over South Africa similar to the way the Aussies were recently rolled over.

These days, all the interesting test matches are played on swing friendly pitches; the India tour of Australia was dull and too batsman friendly. Most subcontinent games are likewise boring.

In theory, the West Indian islands should give you a great cross-section of pitches - some of the smaller islands have alot of cloud cover, wind and humidity - but they somehow always end up being flat. Our best fast bowler now, Taylor, seems to mostly take wickets in Barbados and Kingston.

What has happened to India..all of a sudden,they are playing much worse than what their ranking suggests,worse than how minnows play.
AUs has at least a few wins to its name,but the Asian teams are all pathetic.


Oh sry for diverting the topic,but feeling bad for India's recent loss against SL,when they were in a winning position.

That 22 Yards : I have been hammering away ! 

India's last test series win was vs the West Indies at home in India in 2013.

Away from home, India are even worse. They have to go back to 2009 for an away test series win, and that was versus Bangladesh.

How much, if at all, do you think India's struggles in Test cricket are due to T20 cricket? They have won just 3 matches, lost 8 and drawn 6 over the last two years, and as you point out, have been even worse away from home (3 wins, 17 loses and 9 draws) over the last 5 years.

I think T20 makes batsmen better. ABDV, Sanga, Kohli, Joe Root, Kane Williamson...all these guys are excellent in all formats. If the aggression of T20 is ruining your test game, then you're probably already a hack to begin with.