Australian cricket legend Darren Lehmann has slammed the choice to drop Travis Head from the facet for the primary Test in India as ‘ridiculous’, and says the facet’s extraordinarily transient preparation for the tour of the subcontinent was a key issue within the crew’s horror begin to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy collection.
Lehmann, at the moment assistant coach of Big Bash franchise the Brisbane Heat, oversaw the Australian crew throughout the thrilling 2017 tour of India. His facet gained the primary Test earlier than shedding a hotly contested collection 2-1.
Watch Australia’s Tour of India. Every Test & ODI reside & ad-break free throughout play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
He informed the Sydney Morning Herald that Travis Head’s shock omission was a transparent mistake.
“They didn’t get selection right. Not playing Head was ridiculous, and he could have bowled some extra overs.
“The hardest thing for him now is how is he going to try and stay in the side after having such an amazing two years at home.
“If he’s ever going to succeed it was going to be off the back of the confidence the home series gave him. It’s a really tough one for him. Obviously they had their reasons but the records of the other blokes aren’t overly flattering either apart from [Steve] Smith, and [Marnus] Labuschagne is obviously a good player of spin.”
A raft of the Test gamers opted to return to the Big Bash within the wake of the dominant collection win at dwelling over South Africa, however Lehmann believes it backfired by limiting the crew’s red-ball preparations for India.
“Ideally, they should have played a tour game,” mentioned Lehmann. “They don’t like to do that because the tour match we played last time (2017) was on a green wicket.
“But it’s still batting for a long period of times in the heat and getting used to the ball, things like that. So a tour game would have been handy ideally, but they decided to do the BBL didn’t they, which was good for the Heat because we got Marnus and Uzzie [Usman Khawaja], but maybe they needed a tour game. It’s easy in hindsight, though, isn’t it.”
Lehmann’s 2017 crew loved a two-week coaching stint in Dubai, whereas the present crop had only a handful of days on a specially-curated wicket at North Sydney Oval earlier than a quick preparation camp in Bangalore earlier than the opening match in Nagpur.
The key to success, Lehmann says, will probably be a greater efficiency from the batters on the tough turning pitches. Australia managed simply 177 and 91 of their two innings within the first Test, whereas India managed 400.
“You’ve just got to bat big because 177 is never going to be enough,” Lehmann mentioned. “It was turning, so you’re trying to get to 250. If it was 250 it’s a different game.”
If Cameron Green is match, Matthew Renshaw looms because the almost certainly batter to lose his spot for after managing simply two runs in his two makes an attempt on the crease in Nagpur.
And Mitchell Starc has additionally rated himself a “good chance” to return, with Scott Boland set to lose his spot to the vigorous fast ought to Starc be handed match.
Originally printed as ‘It was ridiculous’: Former coach Lehmann takes intention at Aussies over first Test horror present
Source: www.dailytelegraph.com.au
