Watch all 10 Australian wickets

Australia's woes with the bat on the second day in Perth was the latest in a worrisome string of collapses for the Test team over the past 16 months.

After a solid opening partnership that saw David Warner and Shaun Marsh put on 158, the Australians lost all their first-innings wickets for just 86 more runs.

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It continued a trend for Steve Smith's men that began when they were undone by England and the Dukes ball in the 2015 Ashes, where they surrendered their hold on the famous urn.

That series, of course, famously saw Australia slump to the horrors of 60 all out at Trent Bridge, with 10 wickets falling for 56.

But of the 16 Tests Australia have played since last winter's Ashes began, they have suffered a batting collapse to some degree in 11 of them.

And in those 11 Tests, Australia's batsmen have folded in quick succession in 19 out of 20 innings in which they’ve batted.

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Not all collapses have been terminal to the team, however; collapses at Lord's, The Oval, the Adelaide Oval and Christchurch during that period all resulted in wins.

However, Australia were skittled in both innings and slumped to defeat at Cardiff, Edgbaston and Trent Bridge to cost them the Ashes, and their batsmen were culpable again when they were whitewashed 3-0 by Sri Lanka earlier this year.

Former Australia middle-order mainstay Mark Waugh said it was an unwanted "habit" that exposed both "technique and mental strength".

"They seem to have picked up the habit. Obviously in Sri Lanka we did that (collapse)," Waugh told Triple M's Dead Set Legends.

"The first day was excellent in Perth and yesterday was the complete opposite. You wouldn't have read about it really at 0-150. I thought we'd probably get a lead of about 200."

Nine of the 11 Tests in which Australia have collapsed have been away from home, and Waugh was asked to explain why swing, seam or spin caused such problems.

"First of all, it's obviously more difficult to hit the ball when the ball is moving. A straight ball is easier to bat against," said Waugh, a member of Cricket Australia's National Selection Panel.

"I suppose that comes down to your technique and your mental strength.

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"You've just got to adapt to the conditions probably a bit better, tighten up your defence, don't play as loosely, all those sorts of things.

"To be honest, these days the way the pitches are around world cricket you don't get a lot of those conditions, so when you do get it, batsmen are a little bit uneasy about it.

"But they're good enough to cope with it, it's just, you know, adapting to the conditions a bit quicker really."

Looking further back than 2015 Ashes, to a time when the side was vastly different to the current XI battling South Africa at the WACA Ground, Australia's propensity to collapse stretched back to mid-2013.

In 2013, the side lost 10-75 against India in Hyderabad and 10-86 against England at Lord's within weeks of each other. Then, in Durham's fourth Test, they lost 8-56 on the fourth day to surrender the Ashes.

By then, of course, Darren Lehmann had taken over the side and was on the way to reversing the decline, leading to a 5-0 Ashes sweep in the magic summer of 2013-14.

And while Australia went on to defeat South Africa on their home soil 2-1 in an epic series that followed, that included losing 10-90 in the second Test at Port Elizabeth.

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Waugh also added his support for under-fire allrounder Mitch Marsh but warned "he's got to start performing".

"He gives great balance to the team, but having said that I mean, it doesn't matter who you are, you've got to perform," Waugh said.

"We all think Mitchell is a great talent and he's excellent for the team in that he gives you that extra bowler if you happen to get an injury, or one of the quick bowlers is not having a good day, you've got that back-up.

"Because none of the top five batsmen at the moment bowl any sort of seam up. So you really do need a genuine allrounder there just to level that up.

"But he's got to start performing.

"I've got great faith in him, but it's up to him now. He's just got to try and free himself. He looks a little bit tense with the bat.

"He's a natural stroke player and he plays with an aggressive style. That's his best way to achieve some results with the bat."

Australia's batting collapses

(since June 2015)

Cardiff, v England, Lost

1st innings: 7-101 2nd innings: 9-145

Lord's, v England, Won

1st innings: 7-204

Edgbaston, v England, Lost

1st innings: 6-59 2nd innings: 9-203

Trent Bridge, v England, Lost

1st innings: 10-56 2nd innings: 10-140

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The Oval, v England, Won

1st innings: 6-149

Perth v NZ, Draw

1st innings: 8-156 2nd innings: 5-115

Adelaide, v NZ (D/N), Won

1st innings: 8-116 2nd innings: 6-125

Australia collapse on second afternoon

Christchurch, v NZ, Won

1st innings: 8-149

Pallekele, v Sri Lanka, Lost

1st innings: 6-73 2nd innings: 8-98

Galle, v Sri Lanka, Lost

1st innings: 9-52 2nd innings: 7-122

Batting collapses bookend forgettable day for Aussies

Colombo v Sri Lanka, Lost

1st innings: 9-112 2nd innings: 9-60

WACA v South Africa

1st innings: 10-86

Watch all 10 Australian wickets

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