Before this month it had been four years since Australia had experienced Test match defeat on home soil.

As it happens, the last Test defeat took place in the same place and at the hands of the same opponent as where that happy drought came to its unfortunate end. In the four years since losing to South Africa at the WACA in 2012, Australia won 14 home Test matches and drew four.

No other Test-playing nation could claim such a level of home success in that period of time – not even India whose dominance in home conditions is well documented.

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And now, quite suddenly, Australia is faced with the prospect of enduring its first ever home whitewash in a Test series of three Tests or more. Furthermore, Steve Smith faces the personal ignominy of being the only Australian captain to be whitewashed twice, let alone in consecutive series’, and let alone only a month after Australia endured its first ever 5-match ODI series whitewash.

How did Australian cricket sink so far so quickly?

Many pundits see fit to lay the blame squarely at the feet of (former) selector Rod Marsh, while others blame High Performance Manager Pat Howard. Blame has also been apportioned to the players themselves, the coaching staff, Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland, the sport scientists, the groundskeepers, the bat makers, the Big Bash, the Kookaburra ball, and an official Cricket Australia inquest is expected to be launched into the small northwest Queensland town of Lawn Hill this coming Thursday.

As is often the case when crises emerge, however, the chances are the real culprits are a little more difficult to spot.

So, then, let’s ask the real question here: why are Australia’s batsman performing so poorly? In this article I am going to use Callum Ferguson as an example. It’s not my intention to scapegoat Callum Ferguson, but to show why he simply a perfect example of a system which is broken.



The short answer, reader, is that new Australian batsman are entirely out of their depth. When Callum Ferguson made his Test debut in the horror show in Hobart last week it was his first taste of international cricket since an ODI on the 13 April 2011 against Bangladesh.

In that match Ferguson made three runs off eight balls batting at number six. In the five years since then, Ferguson has toiled hard in domestic cricket in attempt to earn himself a recall to international cricket and to win a baggy green cap, so revered by cricketers in Australia.

As such, presented here are Callum Ferguson’s Sheffield Shield stats since that time.

2011/12 – 486 runs – average of 32.40 – one century

2012/13 – 639 runs – average of 39.93 – one century

2013/14 – 565 runs – average of 56.50 – one century

2014/15 – 836 runs – average of 52.25 – four centuries

2015-16 – 478 runs – average of 53.11 – one century

2016/17 – 101 runs – average of 50.50 – one century

As you can see, Callum Ferguson showed marked improvement to reach a stage where he was consistently averaging in the 50s, an excellent benchmark for any player hoping for a recall to international cricket. Based on those numbers, no one could argue with Callum Ferguson’s recall to international cricket, could they?

I would like to cast your mind back, however, to a Sheffield Shield batting collapse which took place only one year ago. It was match three of the 2015-16 Sheffield Shield, and it was the only Sheffield Shield fixture to feature David Warner, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc or Josh Hazlewood that season, unequivocally now Australia’s four best players.

In that match South Australia collapsed to 5-9 during an explosive bowling performance from Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood under lights. Ferguson was a contributor to that collapse, getting out lbw to Josh Hazlewood for a duck after five balls. He did, however, top score for South Australia in the second innings with 96.

I would like to posit, then, that batting collapses are not a result of mental weakness, lack of grit, squad disharmony or any of the umpteen explanations offered in the last week, but of one thing: extraordinary bowling and batsman with no experience in facing it.



It should be no secret that of Australia’s current (and not perpetually injured) fast bowlers, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood are by far and away the best. I would suggest that the bowling Callum Ferguson faced from the South African trio of Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada and Kyle Abbott in Hobart was like nothing he had faced since South Australia’s 5-9 collapse one year ago.

How could Callum Ferguson have faced any bowling of that quality since then? He has never had the opportunity to do so. With current cricket fixture the way it is, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood play only one Sheffield Shield fixture per year.

They did not miss fixtures due to injury. That was the plan. How did we let it get this way? How did we never see it coming?

For years we’ve seen an enormous amount of overturn for international players. Players show decent domestic form, get picked for Australia, underperform, and get thrown out again while the new player comes in. The problem is we’re throwing these players into the deep end, having never giving them a proper domestic internship.

Young players are not given a chance to test their abilities against the best players Australia has to offer and as such are not afforded the opportunity to improve. Furthermore, the selectors are not given a chance to judge players’ ability against quality players. It makes complete sense they look out of their depth immediately after making the step up to international cricket.

Have you ever wondered why selectors often make surprising, seemingly out-of-the-blue selections for ODI series’? In 2016 alone Scott Boland, Joel Paris, Kane Richardson, John Hastings, Adam Zampa, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Moises Henriques, Travis Head, Daniel Worral, Joe Mennie and Chris Tremain were all called up for the Australian ODI team, some being bigger surprises than others.

Some see this as Australia’s selectors having no faith in specific players. However, I see it as the selectors having no other avenue to Test up-and-comers against international standard players.

That Australia’s ODI team were whitewashed against South Africa is no surprise when you consider the calibre of bowling attack South Africa were facing, but what choice did the selectors’ have but to give those players a go?



What other opportunity were they going to get to find out exactly what those players were made of?

Domestic Australian cricket is broken. But the fix is simple. The domestic one-day tournament the name of which seems to change with each passing year is redundant. It is taking valuable time away from a busy domestic cricket schedule. Time that could be better used.

Cricket Australia must move the Sheffield Shield forward to begin in late September, potentially playing early rounds at regional grounds if the major venues are still in AFL mode.

They must ensure that no international cricket is scheduled in that time. That is the key. They must give all of Australia’s international players the chance to a play a full five rounds of Sheffield Shield before the international summer begins.

Not only will that be of enormous benefit to current players to reacclimatise to Test cricket and Australian conditions, but it will help the younger players get a taste for playing against the best. Furthermore, it will help the selectors get a clearer picture of players’ ability and form.

That Joe Mennie and Callum Ferguson were called up to this summer’s Test side based largely on last season’s form is evidence enough that the current system is broken and in desperate need of fixing. That prior to the first Test in Perth only one Sheffield Shield match had been played is disappointing. What chance did any player have of performing well enough to state their case for a Test call-up in one game?

Rod Marsh has resigned (amidst mounting pressure) as Chief of Selectors, but it won’t make a smidgeon of difference unless selectors are given more opportunity to judge players. Australian batsmen need to experience batting against quality bowlers.



Australian bowlers need to experience bowling against quality batsman. Australian cricket needs to move the Sheffield Shield forward.