OPINION
Follow UsWith 119 rating points to their name, Australia are currently the number one ranked Test side in the world. We know that their bowling is right up there as the best in the world, but what about their batting?
Since November 2019, no team has bettered Australia’s batting average (avg runs per wicket) of 38.3. They are four clear of the second-best batting side New Zealand (34.2), and the Aussies’ balls-per-wicket figure (69.3) in the said period is also the best among all teams. They’ve scored quicker than any other team (Run Rate of 3.3) and in this period, their batters have scored as many as 15 tons.
Excellent figures. Surely, then, going by these numbers, it is hard to deny the fact that they are the best batting side in the world?
Well, there’s a caveat: as it turns out, Australia are the only side in the entire world to not have played a single game away from home in the said period. Their last away series was the 2019 Ashes, post which they played a staggering 14 Tests at home, consecutively.
So, best we take the aforementioned numbers with a pinch of salt.
The away challenge that awaits the Aussies
There are few countries whose batters exploit home conditions as well as the Aussies. But numbers from their away tours since 2016 - which includes outings in Asia - project just how much their batters have struggled outside Australia. A night and day difference.
Since the start of 2016, the Aussie batters have averaged 39.3 at home, losing a wicket every 73 balls. Outside Australia, however, this figure nosedives to 27.3 and 52 respectively, with the Kangaroos also scoring slower than they do back home.
Among the sides currently ranked in the Top 7 of the Test rankings, these figures are the second worst. This despite the Aussies currently holding the number one position in the rankings.
Overall, outside Australia, the numbers don’t look particularly good. But the Aussie batters have been even worse in Asian conditions. Since 2016, Australia have played 11 Tests in Asia - 9 in the sub-continent and 2 in the Middle-East - and in those games, they’ve averaged 24.2.
Among all 12 countries to have played a Test in Asia in the said period, it is the third-worst. Notably, the last Asia cycle saw the Aussies win just 2 of the 11 Tests, infamously suffering a whitewash at the hands of Sri Lanka.
Certainly, the first objective for Australia will be to improve on these numbers. The task, however, will be complicated by the mystery that is the conditions in Pakistan. The fact of only 5 Tests being played in Pakistan in the past decade means that it will be near-impossible for the visitors to predict what will be coming their way.
A desperate need for seniors to step up
In the last five years away from home for Australia, it has been a one man show. Steve Smith averages 63.84 outside Australia since 2016, nearly 30 more than any other teammate of his that is still active. The second-best is Marnus Labuschagne with 39.45, but he’s played just 6 Tests compared to Smith’s 18.
Smith also single-handedly carried Australia the last time they toured Asia. He averaged 50.88 and struck four hundreds when none of the other batters managed to average over 37. Interestingly, the second and third-best batters from the 2016/17 subcontinent stretch - Handscomb and Maxwell - are no longer in the Test set-up.
It will, therefore, be imperative for both Usman Khawaja and David Warner to pile on the runs, given the Australian middle-order consists of three batters who have never been to the sub-continent before (Head, Labsuchagne and Cam Green). Both Warner and Khawaja scored tons in their last respective series in Asia - Warner in Bangladesh and Khawaja in UAE - but ultimately both the batters have under-performed in Asian conditions to a large extent, underpinned by their sub-35 averages. For Smith to carry the duo and subsequently the team, in the form he is in, might not be possible.
Several interesting sub-plots to look forward to
Marnus Labuschagne, earlier this week, spoke about how it’s the away performances that define the legacy of a batter. The spotlight is guaranteed to be on the 27-year-old, who is the current number one ranked batter in the longest format.
14 of the 18 Tests Labuschagne has played since his second-coming in 2019 have been at home, with each of his 6 Test tons coming Down Under. And while the eccentric right-hander did make quite the impact in the away Ashes in 2019, how he’s perceived going forward will depend a lot on how he fares in Australia’s sub-continent stretch in the next 12 months, starting with the Pakistan tour.
There is a school of thought that Labuschagne has merely been a beneficiary of Australia’s scheduling, and is not as good as the numbers suggest he is, hence the onus will be on him to prove to the world that he’s an all-round batter that can succeed anywhere.
The forthcoming sub-continent stretch is also a chance for Warner (perhaps his last chance) to set his away record straight and prove to the critics that he is more than just a ‘home bully’. The same can be said for Khawaja, who averages 28.69 outside Australia compared to 55.50 at home. Could Khawaja’s homecoming help him turn his fortunes (away from home) around?
Finally, the next 12 months, starting with the Pakistan tour, is all set to be a litmus test for the likes of Travis Head, Cameron Green and Alex Carey, the batters slated to carry Australian cricket forward. Head and Green both had an Ashes to remember, and the duo can truly elevate themselves to the next level by registering defining performances in alien conditions.
