Despite inflicting a demoralising defeat on New Zealand by 149 runs in a little over three days in the first Test, Australia will be taking a closer look at their mediocre batting performance.
Even allowing for the nature of the pitch which favoured the bowlers, there was only one batsman in each Australian innings to keep it propped up. Having lost the Test series in India earlier this month, their first defeat since the Ashes series in England in 2005, Australia must now be concerned about maintaining their position as the number one cricket team in the world.
In this Test match Australia batsmen showed a total lack of application against the young and inexperienced New Zealand bowlers and with the Test series against a strong South Africa team to follow next month they will need to adjust quickly to pitches at home after playing on the flat wickets of India recently. There can be no excuses for failing again on the traditionally batsman-friendly pitch in Adelaide.
Captain Ricky Ponting said: “I think we were a fair way off from playing our best cricket. Both teams struggled with the bat on that wicket, but after the second day it wasn’t a bad surface at all to bat on. The bowlers from both teams bowled very well and the batsmen were too worried about the conditions of the wicket and not applied themselves enough.”
He pointed out: “Look at the guys who applied themselves, they were the ones who made the runs, Michael Clarke in the first innings and Simon Katich in the second innings and Ross Taylor (for New Zealand), they applied themselves and got the benefits.”
He went on to say: “We bowled very well and we certainly fielded very well, we caught everything that came our way but our batting wasn’t great. In Adelaide (in the next Test) on a better batting surface the guys who got starts here will go on to make bigger scores.”
Looking ahead to the much anticipated series to follow next month, Ponting said: “We will certainly need to do that against better quality opposition that we are going to face in a couple of weeks time.”
He added: “We are not being carried away with the win we have had, it’s been a good win like any Test match win is but we still identify that there are some areas of need for improvement.”
Just how clinical Australia’s performance can be was seen in the brief period after play resumed on the fourth morning with New Zealand’s second innings on 143 for six, needing a further 184 to win with Taylor, on 67, their only front line batsman remaining.
Within half an hour of the start of play Andrew Symonds held a leaping one-handed overhead catch, at point, off Mitchell Johnson to dismiss Daniel Vettori and the tourists were 160 for seven. A run later, in his next over, Johnson claimed the wicket that mattered most. Taylor, on 75 from 128 balls, edged an off drive behind the stumps to bring an end to a commendable three-hour innings.
Man of the match Johnson soon brought an end to the proceedings on the total of 177 when he bowled the last man to finish with five for 39 which gave him a match haul of nine for 69, his career best figures in his fourteenth Test match.
New Zealand captain, Vettori, said: “The difference (in the teams) was obviously Clarke in the first innings and Katich in the second. The way they constructed their innings showed us how you could score on a wicket like this and unfortunately we never got a guy close enough to those scores (though) Ross in both innings played well. I look at the guys and think they are extremely talented but we have to turn that into consistent performances.”
Vettori feels that given time his young talents can develop into a great side: “We have always produced quality bowlers but historically we have always struggled a little bit with our batting. We have Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, Jamie How, Brendon McCullum and Daniel Flynn, they are good players and once they have played (around) twenty Tests, they can average forty and can be very good players but at the moment we are trying to work with some really young, inexperienced guys.”
He added: “Hope we can turn it around for Adelaide because it is renowned for a great batting deck and if the guys can get those hundreds on the board then I think we will give ourselves a chance with our bowling line-up.”
