Former Australian cricketer Adam Gilchrist has explained Australia’s main problem which has been affecting their games for a number of years now. Australia are touring England for a white ball series and the T20I series was won by England 2-1. The Aussies have been on a low since getting knocked out of the ODI World Cup last year by England, and have since only won 2 out of 7 ODIs.
The ODI starts on Friday and will end on the 16th of September, after which the players participating in the IPL will travel to the UAE through a charter plane.
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Adam Gilchrist identifies the flaws in Team Australia
The former Australian wicket-keeping batsman thinks the middle order has been the Australian team’s Achilles heel for years. The middle-order has failed to get runs and have been easy and quick wickets for the opposition. He gave an example of a similar situation that occurred in the first T20 against England, where Australia had a head start but after the openers’ wickets, the middle order failed to carry on.
“(The middle overs) has been a little bit of a handbrake for the Australians in the one-day format for a number of years, particularly against the spinning ball. Not only does the run rate come down but they tend to lose wickets in clumps – we saw that with the collapse in the first T20. I think that’s the area where other teams have tended to be accelerating and playing that more aggressive brand of cricket,” Gilchrist was quoted as saying by Cricket Australia.
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“That’s been our Achilles heel for a number of years (and) will be challenging again, with the make-up of the England bowling line-up and how everyone in world cricket is probably aware of that handbrake for Australia there. It’s all on the Aussies to work out what the psychology will be, what the match plan will be and what the make-up of the batting order will be.”
“The Wicket-keeping role is another issue for Australia,” says Adam Gilchrist
The legendary wicket-keeper is concerned about the Aussies’ wicket-keeping choice. The T20 series saw Mathew Wade keep wickets for Australia but for ODI Alex Carey will play the role. Gilchrist reckons the keeping spot has not been fulfilled since Brad Haddin.
“That wicketkeeping role, Alex Carey showing so much promise in an array of facets of the game – leadership, his wicketkeeping is excellent, he’s opened in Big Bash with great success, and he’s shown some really solid form in that middle-order finishing role,” Adam Gilchrist said.
Alex Carey. Credits: Cricket Australia.
“But he still hasn’t consistently banged out 80 off 40, total game-changing innings, a la a guy like (England’s Jos) Buttler does regularly, or (Jonny) Bairstow if he happens to have the gloves. That wicketkeeping allrounder position has not quite been totally fulfilled, probably since Brad Haddin. So there’ll be some decisions to be made there by selectors about who they think can do it, or by Alex Carey about just how innovate and creative and aggressive he needs to be to have that impact. And is it at the top of the order, or down at seven, six, or floating?.” Adam Gilchrist added.
29-year-old Alex Carey has had a good start to his ODI career, scoring 884 runs from 36 appearances at an average of 34. He had an impressive run of 375 runs from nine innings at the 2019 World Cup. Adam Gilchrist feels Carey needs to adopt a little more to make a permanent place in Australia’s Playing XI.
