Australian News Today

‘I just don’t see it’: Aussie void we can no longer ignore as legends expose ticking timebomb

‘I just don’t see it’: Aussie void we can no longer ignore as legends expose ticking timebomb

As Australia’s batting slumps to a new low during the first Test against India, fans will be left wondering how concerned they need to be about the concerning trajectory.

Watch every ball of Australia v India LIVE & ad-break free during play in 4K on Kayo | New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer.

According to former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan, the concern is warranted.

The Aussies were rolled by India for an embarrassing 104 early on day two – and that wasn’t the end of their First Test pain.

By the end of day three, the home side were staring down a 521-run deficit with just seven wickets left after debutant Nathan McSweeney (0), Pat Cummins (2) and Marnus Labuschagne (3) all went in a savage late spell before stumps.

READ MORE

TALKING POINTS: ‘Negative, illegal’ moment the Aussie castle crumbled; King’s heir arrives

IPL AUCTION WRAP: Hazlewood cashes in on Aussies’ $9.27m payday; stars go unsold

‘HOPEFULLY THINGS TURN AROUND QUICKLY’: Quick defends Marnus, reveals Aus goals after awful day

Aus v India – Test 1, Day 3 Highlights | 08:14

Vaughan fears there are players within the Aussie line up that have become “too comfortable” and has questioned where the next generation was going to come from.

“I think the debate over the next week or two going into the second and third Test matches will be: Are Australia short of a gallop and they needed this game to get back into Test match cricket mode? Or are they a team that’s just starting to get over the edge?” he said.

“I think obviously the batting unit is a batting unit that has had plenty of success in the past. There’s some great players in it – but consistently now for a number of games it’s just not managed to score the runs that many would have expected, including themselves.

“What is underneath this Australian batting line up really pushing the standards in the first team?

“The standards generally get driven in a team because you’ve got many players pushing for places in it – I just don’t see too many doing it.

“When Australia had a batting line up that had many world class players in it, I reckon you probably had seven or eight world class players not in it – and that was just in the batting department.

“Who is pushing? How many players outside of this Australian camp… outside of (Josh Inglis), who are the players getting the numbers to put these players in this team under pressure? I just don’t see it.”

Cricket great Ravi Shastri agreed.

“I am seriously worried about the depth in Australian cricket,” he told foxsports.com.au.

“There were times when players had to play years and years of cricket to make the cut. Mike Hussey, Matthew Hayden – years and years, and you look down the ranks there in Shield cricket and some of the youngsters coming through the ranks, there aren’t many there.

“When you look at the batting line up, a couple of guys in the evening of their career, on the other side of 30 – deep into the 30s, you want to have some depth.

Hazlewood reflects on horror day 3 | 08:14

“Australia will have to find something from somewhere.”

It’s been a decade since the Aussies tasted Test series victory over India – and that was at a time Adam Voges and Michael Klinger scored more than 1000 runs in the Sheffield Shield.

The likes of Callum Ferguson, Peter Nevill, Peter Handscomb, Matt Wade and Dan Christian all averaged higher than 50 in their nine or more Shield matches.

Currently, 18 players (including Marcus Harris, Handscomb, Sam Konstas, Matt Renshaw and Sam Whiteman) have scored a century this Shield season that is only two months old.

Labuschagne’s form is a massive worry for the Australians, with the batsman reaching triple figures just once in past two years.

Australia lose 3-12 in NIGHTMARE start! | 01:03

Aussie great Michael Hussey said he was prepared to reserve judgement on where this Test team sat.

“I’m not willing to jump at shadows just yet,” he said.

“You just think about coming into this series, all the talk was about India. They’d lost 3-0 to NZ.“The Australian batting order has had one innings.

“Yes, they didn’t perform as well as they would have liked… I’m willing to just wait, be patient and see and make more of a judgement after three Test matches.“The Australian public don’t like the Australian team getting beaten, and beaten badly.”