All Out Cricket's discussion of the Week - How can Australia fix their batting?

Today on www.alloutcricket.com Ant Sims looks back at a crazy match between South Africa and Australia:

http://www.alloutcricket.com/blogs/comment/south-africa-australia-cape-town-classic-cricket

Ahead of the second Test, we'd like to know what you think Australia need to do to address their fragile batting. In their last 12 Tests (over the course of 16 months), they've been bowled out for under 100 three times. Before that, they had been bowled out for under 100 just once in 277 matches and 26 years!

Phil Hughes seems to have a few problems with nicking the ball behind...which is a major issue as an opener to say the least, when the ball is new and doing that bit more. It might be time to remove Hughes from the order and give somebody with a more solid technique a go...any suggestions anyone??

Other than that, I guess Haddin is the next greatest concern. He has struggled for a while now, and it may well be time to give the likes of Paine an extended run in Test cricket to see if his batting is the answer.

I have heard murmurs of 'Ponting out', but Ricky has still got it in my eyes, and will come good. A player of such class should always be given more leeway when it comes to a decision to drop them or not.

Overall, the Australians still have some magnificent batsmen, but it would appear that more than one or two are struggling to hit form at the same time. If they do, they have the capacity to put on some huge totals given the talent in the lineup. The fact that they're facing some quality fast bowling doesn't help, of course.

I don't think they must change too much, some of them may be out of form, but it only requires one innings and they could hit form

May be Marsh to open with Watson, and Khawaja in at 6, for the time being.

But Marsh is injured for now, and so this can't work for the next match. Think David Warner should be given a go.

A certain Virender Sehwag reckons Warner has it in him to be a successful test opener!.

Good shout on Warner, might be worth a shot. He can certainly play, however it remains to be seen if he will just play a shot too many at Test level.

If he has 50% of Sehwag's success he will do ok...

Hughes is not a test match batsman. He is awful against the short ball, he is a slogger, and dosent look prepared to dig in for the side. Katich should still be there but thats clearly not gonna happen whilst clarke is skipper. Waston is a good batsman, but goes too hard at the ball. Marsh inexperienced but will succed at test level. Punter is finished after this series IMO. Clarke class test batsman. Hussey class, but wont be around for much longer. Haddin finished has been in awful form for a while now...

this would be my aussie batting line up

1.Watson
2.Marsh
3.Ponting/Warner
4.Clarke
5.Ferguson
6.Hussey/when he retires: Mitchell Marsh
7.Paine

Marsh better opener than Hughes. Warner can slot in at 3. Mitch marsh looks to be a tremednous prospect with bat and ball, and would take the pressure off Watson. Paine is much better than Haddin.

sehwag has been a huge success opening for india in the manner he does because of the strength and depth of batting he has behind him with dravid, sachin and vvs to follow. i doubt australia can afford the luxury of a david warner playing like sehwag when their middle order is shaky ?

dumping katich is now looking like a very bad move and the aussies are going to be forced to replace ponting, hussey and haddin over the next year or so, but who with ?

khawaja hasn't looked great in the couple of chances hes had, they might be forced to continue with hughes because of lack of alternatives, marsh might be a success but its too early to tell and ferguson hasn't came close to living up tio the hype that surrounds him imo.

all in all as an england fan i am quite happy about the potential top 7 we will be facing in the ashes in 18 months time.

rich in my post above i said that paine would come in for haddin.

Paine is a much better keeper batsman than haddin. Just a shame for the aussies that he is injured at the moment.

and paine doesn't really worry me much either tbh , he looks average at best and certainly isn't going to significantly strengthen the batting lineup

I still rate Hughes as a batsman, and I think he will come good for Australia. He has been worked out at the moment and I think he needs an extended period out of the side to work on his technique and he will come back better than usual. It is not as if he keep getting out in different ways, he doesn't have a range of things to fix it is just one.

Rate Warner aswell, but I don't feel that him and Huges can bat in the same top three together.

Ponting still has a few years left in him. He has the ability to play a great innings still and he is needed to hold this young Aussie side together and he should be gradually phased out along with Hussey and Haddin.

Clarke has had a lean period, but his century against SA was sublime. Probably his best Test innings to date and hopefully captaincy will improve him.

Hussey, again class but he will be gone soon. Shame as he is a quality cricketer and great player. Typical lack of English killer instinct, his Test career could been done if we had got him early second innings at the Oval in 09!

Then the young guns of Warner, Marsh, Mitch Marsh, Paine etc. still have to prove themselves to me. Marsh has started well, but he needs to keep going and as I haven't seen him bat I can't commment to much yet.

Watson
Hughes/Warner
Marsh
Ponting
Clarke
Hussey
Haddin

That will see them through another year at least, and perform well.

Keep and eye out for Nic Maddinson aswell, young opener with stacks of potential!

Hughes
Marsh
Punter
Clarke
Hussey
Watson
Haddin(wk)
Mitch
Harris
Copeland
Cummins

It beggars belief that Callum Ferguson is being suggested as a future Test batsman.The bloke has played half of his f/c matches at Adelaide which is by far the flattest pitch in Australia.Despite that,he averages mid 30s in f/c cricket.And he is not a raw youngster either.He is 26.
On the other hand there is a extremely talented 22 year old with 16 f/c centuries already to his name with a f/c average of over 50 and with a TEST AVERAGE of 40 which is higher than Ferguson's f/c average.But such a player is rated as a slogger whereas Ferguson should be in the Test side.

One comment that I heard about Punter have literally made me cry.There was a poster on another forum that Punter has become a cancer for Australian cricket.Its so sad that people no longer respect great players.

That comment is ridiculously ill-informed, over the top and disrespectful to one of the greatest batsmen the game has seen. That poster should feel ashamed, or preferably just be ignored completely.

Ponting is a class act, but he's badly in need of a score. Unfortunately, in this struggling side, they need their experienced players to get going. It is impossible to carry someone who's out of touch for some time now, even though that player has class that is above form.

msp83, the fact is Ponting has been without a good score for so long and form is only temporary but class is permanent. Unless something is failing completely like eyesight or some physical problem nobody is aware of, sooner or later he wil bounce back with a huge tally.

I bet it would be sooner.

1) Ditch Hughes. Don't care about people saying how talented he is, how he will come good, etc. Since his first series he has done basically nothing. England worked him out in 09, he was dropped, and still has the exact same flaws. Never looked like scoring many against England last time or against SA in the last test. Sure he made a few against SL (one innings), but then so could Boycott's mum to be honest given the current potency of that attack.

2) Promote Marsh to open. He's an opener by trade anyway, and given how Hughes is doing is pretty much opening anyway at the moment.

3) Give Khawaja an extended run. He's had about four tests to prove himself, made some decent starts and then got out, but looks the part better than Hughes to me.

Watson
Marsh
Khawaja
Ponting
Clarke
Hussey

not convinced Warner has what it takes for test cricket, the point about Sehwag having a top notch batting line-up behind him is a good one.

Callum Ferguson is another who looks a good prospect. Shanky if you don't mind me saying so I'm glad you've never been an England selector as your willingness to only look at statistics suggests Vaughan, Trescothick and Simon Jones would never have played for England

Rahul Dravid, after the 06 WI tour, had a very dificult 2 and a half years or so in test cricket. But during that time Ganguly, Sehwag, Tendulkar, Laxman, and later on Dhoni and Gambhir stepped up and that helped to get through the prolonged rough patch.
Ponting too has had a prolonged rough patch in test cricket for some time now. when was the last time when he averaged over 50 in a calendar year?
if the batting lineup doesn't get its act together, there will be more pressure on ponting.

A very interesting take on Ponting, thanks to Andy Zaltzman on cricinfo.

"Also: The number of Test centuries scored by Ricky Ponting in 62 Tests between August 2001, when he broke a 20-month century drought, and December 2006, when his 142 after being dropped early on by Ashley Giles sparked Australia’s spectacular/gut-rendingly-harrowing (delete according to allegiance) Adelaide comeback victory over England. In that purplest of five-year patches, the Baggy-Green icon averaged 73.

In his 45 Tests over five-and-a-half-years before this halcyon period, Ponting had scored sevenb hundreds in 45 Tests, and averaged 40. In 48 Tests in just under five years since then, he has scored six hundreds and averaged 39 (including just one century in his last 23 Tests, none in his last 13, and no half-centuries in his last six) (and that one century would have ended exactly 100 runs before it reached 100, but for Mohammad Amir grassing a chance that most schoolboys would have taken) (given that Amir was the same age as a schoolboy at the time, that is a pertinent consideration)."

When Australia toured India last year, Ponting was the best of their batters, by a very long way. He played spin as well as he ever did in his entire career, and was consistent without getting a real big one. I thought that tour would have been a turning point and he would come out of the rough patch with that. But alas, the rough patch goes on. Along with his dipping returns, Australia's performances have been taking a hit, so a quick turnaround is in order, otherwise he may not get the leeway for long.
Dropping Katich at that point seemed a mistake, now it is emerging as a historic blunder.

I'd agree with your Katich point. He added solidarity at the top of the order, and could be a real tough batsman to dislodge, whereas now you always feel Australia are going to lose one or two early doors due to poor shot selection and technical deficiencies.

Have no ideas how to solve Australia's batting problems and I don't care. It gives me great pleasure to be able to respond to a post like this, given the grief England have suffered at the hands of the Aussies over the years. In - and all of New Zealand - was only hoping that they would fail to beat 26 in the Cape Town Test.
No doubt Australia will follow the time-honoured England method for dealing with cricket crises. Constant sacking of the captain, constant dropping of players, endless committees and working groups, extraordinary selections. What fun.

MFC
I guess I have watched a bit more of Ferguson than you to be honest.I dont look at purely stats.I have watched him bat numerous times and I have seen nothing to suggest that he is going to be a Test player.
Doesnt look good against the short ball at all and I have seen him look clueless against quality spin.

What's this ? Australia calling up Sir Alex Ferguson ? Must be getting desperate. Mind you, this could be the answer.