Australia in 2016: A year full of misery

Australia in 2016: A year full of misery

In retrospect, the year 2016 will go down in history as Australia’s worst since 2011. Back then, Australia’s historic Ashes defeat at home and a World Cup exit without qualifying in the final four (their first since 1992) had marked a horrendous run. However, in 2016, Australia landed in a rebuilding phase again. In the last 12 months at home, Australia lost to India and South Africa, albeit in different formats. In ICC World T20, they bowed out after the first round. Of course, Australia they bullied New Zealand at their den, but the big blow came later in the year, when they were massacred in Sri Lanka in Tests. In fact, and did not win anything beyond a nonsignificant tri-series in the Caribbean. In ODIs, the 0-5 hammering in South Africa will never be forgotten. Fortunately, there was no Ashes in 2016.

Enduring a certain number of defeats, spending quality time fighting the shortcomings and plotting the way back may not always paint the holistic picture, and in Australia’s case it certainly cannot. Following their fifth straight Test defeat in November, chief selector Rod Marsh resigned, paving way for Trevor Hohns. The new interim panel audaciously sacked half the side to begin with in a desperate bid to stem the rot. Non-performers were thrown out, and once again Australia found themselves back to the drawing board. The overhauled team did respond with three consecutive Test wins, but any impact on limited-overs fortunes will only be known in the New Year.

In Tests, Steven Smith, probably the most successful and most consistent batsman of the year, stood tall among the rubble that Australia’s batting had turned into. He made over a thousand runs in 2016 (averaging over 40 in every series) but Smith would not mind swapping them for a few victories. As captain, Smith had not lost a Test when the year began. But over the next 12 months, he weathered 5 defeats — all in a row.

[read-also]562488,558674[/read-also]

Smith came dangerously close to becoming the first Australian captain to be whitewashed in a home Test series.

Mitchell Starc made a remarkable return in Sri Lanka with a record 24 wickets in 3 Tests, but his batsmen were so meek that his feats fell desperately short. By the time the year ended, Starc had 50.

David Warner and Smith topped the charts as leading run-makers in ODIs. Adam Zampa, who made his ODI debut only in February, ended with 30 wickets — the most for any bowler. Australia won 17 out of their 29 ODIs in 2016 and lost 11.

But what will be remembered is their humiliation in South Africa — Australia’s first-ever whitewash in a five-match series.

In T20Is, Australians remained obstinate after India handed out a 0-3 canning in their own backyard. Australia strolled into the World T20 and got thrown out by India without any fightback. With 6 wins and as many defeats, there is still no idea where Australia are headed as far as T20Is are concerned.

Elsewhere, Big Bash League continued to spread it wings, with the Women’s format gaining in popularity. It has now become an indispensible part of Australian cricket.

Studying all that Australia accomplished or ceded in 2016 will be insufficient unless an in-depth study is done across formats. Test cricket remains Australia’s top priority, but T20Is find the last place. Let us take a look:

The journey:

Australia played 11 Tests, won 5 and lost as many. Not surprisingly (given the aggressive nature of their cricket), not a single Test played till the end was drawn. The New Year’s Test at Sydney against West Indies was washed out with not much cricket. Warner lit up SCG with fastest-ever century at the venue, off only 82 balls. Little did anyone imagine that Warner would return to SCG next year, only to better his record and become a part of the history — but that will be a part of the next year-ender. Warner began 2016 with a century but his next triple-figure score came only in the final Test of the year, against Pakistan at Melbourne.

Australia clean swept New Zealand 2-0 in the Trans-Tasman Trophy 2016-17 in an away series. Adam Voges benefited from an umpiring howler to slam 239 at Wellington, and Australian batting looked in right hands with a fine mix of young and old. This was February; Australia had won against New Zealand and West Indies.

The ODI series in New Zealand was contested intensely, and New Zealand managed to trump the visitors 2-1. It may have been the first defeat of the year, but Australia marched on without slightest of doubts on what the future held.

Australia’s performances remained polar opposite in 50-over World Cup and World T20. In India, despite having the requisite arsenal to travel deep into the tournament, Australia ran into Virat Kohli in the final match of round one in the T20 World Cup, which was virtually a quarter-final for both the teams. Kohli defied Australia, and Smith and his men headed into IPL’s next edition.

[read-also]557494,555751[/read-also] 

The first half of 2016 witnessed an overdose of T20 cricket, and Australia returned to Test cricket with a tour of Sri Lanka. At the beginning, one-way traffic was anticipated. Sri Lanka were deep into their rebuilding phase and Australia’s wins in 4 out of previous 5 series — home and away — was a form too good to ignore.

Historically, Australia had lost only once to Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka; in 1999, that too by 0-1 in a three-Test series after Steve Waugh and Jason Gillespie had collided on-field, reducing Australia to 9 men. But their Sri Lankan sojourn in 2016 marked the beginning of yet another rebuilding phase. Despite bundling Sri Lanka out for 117 in the opening Test, Australia lost. Rangana Herath and the other spinners wrecked havoc in the opposition ranks in the remainder of the series, and Sri Lanka registered one of their biggest achievements in Test cricket.

At Pallekele, Sri Lanka came from behind to win by 106 runs. In the second Test at Galle, the margin was even bigger. A defeat by 229 runs sealed series against Australia’s favour. Smith and Shaun Marsh came up with first-innings tons in the final Test at Colombo, but Sri Lanka still managed a 163-run win.

Sri Lankan tigers had tamed the Australians, and there was no surprise to see visitors coming back hard in the remainder of the tour. Australia claimed the five-match ODI series 4-1, and Glenn Maxwell single-handedly defeated Sri Lanka 2-0 in the T20Is. Maxwell played the best T20I innings by an Australian in the year: He clobbered 9 sixes and 14 boundaries to scored 145 off 65 balls in the first game. In that match at Pallekele, Australia registered 263 for 3, setting a new world record.

Australia’s 2-0 thumping of Sri Lanka remained their best show in T20Is in 2016.

Australia won two out of three series on offer in Sri Lanka, but the annihilation in the Tests was too severe to be forgotten.

Smith and co. jumped over the subcontinent to face South Africa with momentum on their side.

Australia versus South Africa. For the third time in the year. There was one more bilateral affair left in the year’s itinerary which would make it four. Why did they schedule four series (including a triangular tournament) with South Africa alone, inside one year?

A five-match ODI series looked inconsequential.

But, Australia had further abasement in store. It is not exclusive only to cricketers; the selection panel had their brain-freeze moment as well; Starc and Hazlewood were rested. A string of young bowlers were pulled out of domestic circuit. You would not even remember their name now. Australia lost 0-5. Their first-ever whitewash in a five-match affair. South Africa pummelled everything which Australia had to offer.

In the final ODI, the beast in Warner woke up. He smoked 24 boundaries to make 173 off a mere 136 balls. Australia lost yet again. But that was the best ODI innings by an Australian in the entire year. Surely, Warner’s best so far.

It was the same South Africa which had not even qualified for the tri-series final in the Caribbean a few months ago. West Indies, significantly inferior to Australia and South Africa on paper, fought their way into the final.

Following the 0-5 defeat in South Africa, the world came crashing down rapidly for Australia. In a span of a few months, Australia were whitewashed by India, Sri Lanka and South Africa. The series wins in Sri Lanka did not matter anymore; no Australian team had been whitewashed in four series across formats inside a year.

South Africa’s 2-1 victory in the Test series in Australia was, thankfully, the last of the year.

South Africans kept licking their lips throughout their journey to Australia. Smith’s team had lost three Tests in a row. South Africa had won two consecutive series in Australia, in 2008-09 and 2012-15. There was no reason they would fail to repeat the feat.

And South Africa made the hat-trick.

Australia began the home season at Perth and got hammered by 177 runs, thanks to second-innings tons from Dean Elgar and JP Duminy. South African tails were up, they were mere a win away from making history. The second Test was at Hobart, a venue where only Hashim Amla and Dale Steyn had any experience of playing among everyone in the South African camp.

The curator of the Bellerive Oval must either have been someone who detests Australian cricket to the core. Was it he who handed out Australia their worst day on the field in the year? Or was the team to be blamed? Home sides having a say in the way wickets are prepared is a rampant culture. But not in Australia; Hobart stands as a strong example.

A green-top was prepared when Australia were scouring for a desperate win. Australia’s frailties against the moving ball are widely known and documented. Right at this time, the curator decided to put Australia to sword.

[read-also]551489,547054[/read-also] 

What transpired at Hobart on November 12 went down as yet another black day in the history of Australian cricket. Earlier, there would not be such frequent capitulations. The ‘Australianism’ would invariable inspire someone or the other to take the fight into the opposition camp. But no more. Australians surrendered meekly. In Darren Lehmann’s words, ‘it was Trent Bridge (Ashes 2015) all over again’.

In all this, there was light at the end of the dark tunnel. Smith had been mocked in England a year ago for being one of the best batsmen in the world for not knowing how to play the moving ball.

But at Hobart he showed Australia how to do it.

Smith’s 48 not out in Australia’s mortifying total of 85 was his best innings in the entire year. It certainly was the best Test innings by an Australian in Tests in 2016.

Hobart was the tipping point. Rod Marsh resigned; Hohns and Greg Chappell came in. Mitchell Marsh was axed, finally. Voges’ honeymoon was cut short. Peter Nevill paid the price of being too soft and lacking runs. Joe Burns was axed as well.

The final Test — a day-night affair — beckoned with the hope of a fresh start. A grinder in form of Matthew Renshaw was made Warner’s partner. Pressure grew manifolds on Smith, for Peter Handscomb and Nic Maddinson were the other two debutants who would follow him at Nos. 5 and 6. The vociferous Matthew Wade was back.

Finally, the losing streak ended. South Africans, who had initially not agreed to a pink-ball Test in Australia, had reached Adelaide Oval with hopes of inflicting yet another clean sweep. But Australia finally got their act together, outplayed the high-flying opposition right from the start and spoiled South Africa’s party with a consolatory win.

Playing not far away, Pakistan signalled Australia that a win could be converted into a few more, with their surrender to New Zealand in the final Test.

At Brisbane Australia survived a major scare when Pakistan decided to chase 490 to win. Smith’s men eked out a 39-run win but a display of what this refurbished side could achieve was given at Melbourne. Despite a record double-century from Azhar Ali on a placid wicket, Australia showed character to register a win by an innings and 18 runs.

Three Test wins certainly brought a lot back to Australians, not just smiles.

The heroes:

Somewhere along the way, Mark Taylor said as many as 6 spots were up for the grabs in Australian side. He was correct.

Smith topped the charts in Test cricket for Australia in 2016, but Khawaja trumped the run-machine in Warner.

Starc, despite missing the tour to New Zealand and the New Year Test at Sydney, finished at the top:

In ODIs, Warner was the best:

And there was a surprise entry in form of Zampa, who finished as the leading wicket-taker for Australia in 2016:

Maxwell’s 145 in Sri Lanka pushed his overall tally to 435 runs in 11 T20Is this year. Among bowlers, James Faulkner finished with 17 wickets in 10 games at a strike rate of 12.7.

The flops:

In an ordinary year for Australia, the list of players who frittered away is pretty long. But there are two players off whom high returns were expected.

Mitchell Marsh, despite featuring in a few tables provided above, was the biggest disappointment of the year in the Australian camp. He continued to get support from within the camp and the selectors, but Marsh only disappointed.

Adam Voges rode his luck for long, and his poor show in Sri Lanka and at home against South Africa led to his exit. We may have seen the last of Voges at the biggest stage.

Shane Watson retired from international cricket post the World T20.

The young guns:

Peter Handscomb and Matt Renshaw’s promising starts have breathed life in Australia’s faltering batting.

Jackson Bird returned to Tests after three years on the New Zealand tour. He claimed 14 wickets in 2 Tests to assure Australia of a quality third seamer, especially when Peter Siddle is struggling for fitness.

Adam Zampa will be the one to watch out for along with Steve O’Keefe, if Australia pick them for the Indian tour.

Overview:

Five Test defeats, annihilations by South Africa, Sri Lanka and India (at home) and an ordinary run in T20Is marked 2016 as a deplorable year for Australia.

Smith’s refurbished team is yet to be tested in challenging conditions, especially when the ball seams and swings, or there is turn for spinners.

Their woeful record in Asia — 9 Test defeats on the trot since 2013 — will come back to haunt Australia in month’s time when they would set out to tour India for a four-Test affair.

A look-over at 2017 highlights Australia’s tour of India, the ICC Champions Trophy and The Ashes 2017-18 as the biggest events for Smith’s team.

For what it is worth, will England’s wretched run (8 Test defeats) in 2016 make Australia breathe easy?