Bangladesh Debacle?

With England finishing up their preparations before coming down to Australia and do what hasn't been done by many teams later, namely win away from home, it probably time to start synthesising our thoughts about what might be likely under the burning sun of this next Australian summer.

Unfortunately, if you are an Australian cricket fan who keeps their hand in during the winter by watching the Wallabies, the experience may prove beneficial in preparing you for the contests against England.

Steve Smith's team have woken from a decent sleep to go to every Australian cricketer's favourite place - the sub-continent - and contest a mini tour in Bangladesh which had all the hallmarks of disaster, even months ago when it was announced. After all, the Aussies reputation against all three of Bangladesh's older siblings when playing them in their own backyards, isn't very good. Actually, its fairly bloody awful, not withstanding the last visit to to India which seemed to herald improvement and a tour to Sri Lanka under Michael Clarke. Other than that, cricketers in the Baggy Green seem to have forgotten some bare essentials of how to play spin bowlers or perhaps, they are reminding us that they never learned them in the first place. The spinners that play domestic cricket in Australia are of the dart and hope variety.

Improved or not, the win by Bangladesh proves again just how badly bamboozled Australia batsman are by spin. Actually, perhaps the nomenclature is the problem because it's the idea that the ball is going to rip that has them transfixed. The slow bowlers art is only partially concerned with spin. Most of their deception comes from changes in pace and flight and almost all of it is making a batsmen think a delivery is X when it really is Y. Watch the replays and see again, as in India and the UAE, how many of the Australias were out to balls they thought would turn but didn't or thought would bounce but did. If our spinners don't understand that, what hope the batsmen. Australian slow bowlers rarely have time for subtlety or craft in the four overs they get as the music players and to paraphrase one of the mega bands of the Australian 1980's, "the bails light up". Given the domination of the short forms of the game and the continued reliance on a never ending stream of the grunt and groan men, slow bowlers rarely get taken seriously until its time to have four weeks eating curries. The fast bowlers, who are so effective and worthwhile, that after being identified as a fifteen year old and given priority coaching and funding and selected in every talent, youth and age squad known to the cricket world, debut in the Test team with more Big Bash than Shield games in their career stats ... and promptly break down with a bad back after ten overs on the first day and are not seen again for three years.

The issue of selection is a common talking point and the win by Bangladesh once again allows the other twenty million Australian selectors to clear their throat and offer their thoughts. Meanwhile, egocentric Australian media are busy writing up Australia's loss, instead of Bangladesh's win. Let's get the priority right for this vastly improved side who beat England ten months ago. Applaud, yes but let's remain realistic. There are very, very few Australian sides from the past that could have lost.

Are there question marks over the selections?

Well just ow many black marks can you make against the names Matthew Wade and Glenn Maxwell before you put them back in the jar marked ODI? Selectors, off in their margin somewhere, texta in NTC in big bold letters so you don't forget against England - Not Test Cricketers. One can only assume that the selectors were convinced the Test would only last for one day and there selected Wade and Maxwell, a couple of one-day specialists. While you are at it, best hover near Khawaja. He's a fine bat but his two dismissals in Dhaka again lacked temperance and he is too far into his Test career for that still to be said.

In the real world, those who knock David Warner might finally have to shut up after his superb hundred in Dhaka, yet there are still those who can't forgive his origins and his pathway to Test cricket. He is the exception to the rule which puts blokes like Maxwell in the Test team but you would think by now the selectors, if not the rest of Australia, could recognise the growth in his skill set, the focus of the man and the maturity. Its like saying Abraham Lincoln was born in a tent and therefore can't ever rise above that status. Look how that turned out! If Joe Root could buy 8 failures in 10 innings from one Australian in the upcoming Ashes series, he'd have a hard choice to make between Smith, who can change a Test match and Warner, who does the same thing, only much quicker. Arthur Morris is not alone as best left hand opener Australia has produced.

There were some positives. Nathan Lyon bowled to the conditions, varied his pace and used his best assets. Its not often you can say that about our number one slow bowler. He even bowled a better line, outside off to the right handers. Agar was serviceable and Pat Cummins was impressive, bowling quick on a slow deck and batting with purpose by taking the game to the bowlers rather than waiting for them to bring it to him.

Having said that, the game was lost by the bowlers, who didn't have the smarts to reign in Tamim and just kept sending down the same delivery. Steve O'Keefe is a bit smarter than that and why he wasn't the first bowler picked is another of those mysteries that makes your beer go flat.

Of course, forward planning would have had more than one game scheduled before the Test. It is a place where it rains a lot, with 320mm being the average for August, so perhaps a few games might have been wise ... but then, the modern tour cares more about cost than the status of the team. The modern cricketer, it is often said by the modern administrator, is a professional who can play under all conditions and at any time because they travel the world playing in every cricket playing country. So if that theory holds, why is it that since the touring format changed to bring visiting teams in to play Tests in almost as many weeks, with little or no warm up games, touring sides struggle to win series no matter how classy their record is when they get there?

Of course, as has already happened since Bangladesh won, its the players who'll get the blame and most likely the coach. It always is and no doubt the spectre of the pay dispute will be mouthed loudly. Maybe its time that James Sutherland and his flunkies fronted up and took more of the hard stuff.