Former Australian great Michael Hussey has hit back at calls for major change to the Test team, as pressure mounts following a fourth day disaster against South Africa.
Australia were bowled out for just 99 in Gqeberha and forced to follow on for just the third time since 1988, reaching stumps on the brink of a disastrous defeat at 4/156, still trailing by 170.
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In the crosshairs are struggling trio Nic Maddinson, Marnus Labuschagne and Beau Webster, with the latter duo suffering the ignominy of being dismissed twice on the same day at St George’s Park.
But Hussey has defended Labuschagne, whose ugly dismissal taking on spinner Simon Harmer late in the day to fall for 39 led commentator Gerard Whateley to proclaim on SEN that he “has to be dropped now. Just as a matter of principle”.
“I feel like he’s looking quite good throughout the whole series,” Hussey told foxsports.com.au.
“He’s got a start in pretty much every innings, he’s got himself to 30s, and that’s the most disappointing thing. That’s the heartbeat – getting in, getting set.
“The thing that will be really hurting him the most is he’s got himself in, but hasn’t been able to go on with it and get that big score that everyone is hoping for.”
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Labuschagne is yet to score a half-century in four innings this series, extending his drought to 14 innings without a 50 dating back to last summer’s Ashes, to go with his three-year wait for a century.
He appeared solid with twin scores of 37 in Durban in the first Test but threw away a start in both, just as he did in the second innings in Gqeberha.
For Hussey, who famously endured his own mid-career drought that led to concern over his place in the team, that’s an important sign of improvement.
Marnus Labuschagne shoulders arms in Gqeberha. (Photo by Marco Longari / AFP)Source: AFP
“I think the criticism’s been fair in the past that he (Labuschagne) hasn’t really looked good in his first 20, 30, 40 balls,” he said.
“He’s not been able to score, he’s just been sort of hanging in there and surviving.
“But now he’s actually looking quite good to start his innings. He’s getting going. He’s looking to score again. He’s putting the bad ball away, still defending well.
“He’s done the hard work, now he’s just got to go on with it. So I guess that’s the next step.
“I’m certainly seeing him playing better now than he was maybe six months ago.
“It’s amazing how the game works. When it’s not really your time, then that little lapse in concentration, bang, you find yourself back to the pavilion.
“But I guess the good sign is at least he’s doing the hard work and getting through the initial phase. He’s just got to keep concentrating for longer.”
Labuschagne’s dismissal was all the more frustrating having been saved by the DRS from being given out LBW off Harmer only minutes earlier.
Hussey also has concerns over growing calls for Australia’s Test team to be rejuvenated, with the XI not featuring a single player under 30 for the first time ever in Durban and remaining unchanged at St George’s Park.
One of Test cricket’s great late bloomers after making a long-awaited debut in late 2005 as a 30-year-old, he has cautioned against bringing in youth for youth’s sake.
“It’s all good and well saying get rid of the 30-plus guys, but who are you going to bring in?” he questioned.
“I’ve always been a believer that you don’t just blood someone in Test match cricket – they need to have earned that spot.
“If you’re putting someone in there to see if he’s good enough, then I think that’s the wrong reason to be picking someone for to wear that baggy green cap. You need to be picking someone because you know he can help Australia win Test matches as soon as he gets there.
“If you’ve got players that are absolutely banging the door down at the level below and putting enormous pressure on, then yeah, definitely (make changes).
“But if that pressure hasn’t come consistently from below, then no, I wouldn’t be making changes just for the sake of because someone’s 33 years of age.
“I think there’s probably only really one or two of the players that are at actual retirement age, the late 30s. The rest, I think, have still got plenty of good cricket in front of them.”
Beau Webster after his second dismissal on day four of the second Test. (Photo by Marco Longari / AFP)Source: AFP
That depth is a matter of great concern in Australian cricket, with the paucity of runs at Sheffield Shield level over a number of seasons raising alarms high up in Cricket Australia.
A CA directive urging curators to err on the side of batter-friendly wickets has yielded some early rewards, with NSW opener Ollie Davies recently scoring a spectacular 253 for the first Shield double-century in nearly 1000 days.
But while Davies and several others have made excellent starts to the season, Hussey is far from convinced anyone has banged the door down to the level necessary to push their way into the Test team, with few exceptions.
“It’s not just like one innings – Ollie Davies, that’s one innings that he’s done that,” Hussey told foxsports.com.au.
“We want to see consistent, high-level performances.
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“It was really pleasing to see Sam Konstas score two really good scores in Perth in the recent Shield game – I think he’s someone that’s definitely got to be on the radar, and he’s starting to put a little bit of body of work together.
“I think (Nathan) McSweeney’s definitely put a body of work together for a period of time, whether that be for South Australia or Australia A. And I think Kurtis Patterson certainly has.
“So there are some players there that are definitely mounting a case and putting some pressure on above.
“But no, I don’t want to see just one innings here or there. I want to see a body of work.”
Hussey is also a supporter of Australian selectors’ much-debated preference for picking who they deem as the best six batters in the country and working out the order from there, rather than choosing specialist, in particular for opening the batting.
The left-hander benefited from a similar thought process to carve out an outstanding Test career, having found a niche in the middle order despite spending much of his Sheffield Shield career before his call-up as an opener.
“I don’t mind the philosophy, to be honest,” he said.
“It’s good. It’s a testing convention. It’s challenging traditional ideas. Can we do things better? What’s our best way of winning this Test match?
“Certainly, there’s been times that it’s really worked – we all thought (Matt) Renshaw was going to open to batting throughout this series, and he did a great job batting at No. 5.
“I don’t think we should just get stuck in traditionally. We do need to test the boundaries and things like that.”
Hussey is less confident in Nic Maddinson’s spot as opener, with two single-figure scores in Gqeberha continuing to call into question his shock call-up heading into the series.
Nic Maddinson after his dismissal on day four of the second Test. (Photo by Marco Longari / AFP)Source: AFP
The 34-year old hadn’t played red-ball cricket in more than 18 months before being picked in Durban due to a cancer battle, with two ducks and an 8 around a quickfire 48 at Kingsmead leaving him averaging 14 for the tour so far.
“I just worried that were we setting him up for success or were we setting him up for failure?” Hussey said.
“He hasn’t played in almost two years and you’re asking him to open the batting against a very good South African team in foreign conditions against a ball that is going to be moving around a bit early. I mean, that’s tough for any experienced opener, let alone someone that hasn’t played for a couple of years.
“I feel for him. I feel like they’re asking him to play a really difficult role, because especially opening in Test cricket, it is such a tough role and it’s a learned role.
“ I don’t agree that I think anyone can just go up and do it and do it well. Even watching him play on Day 4, as an opener with years and years of experience, you learn when there’s times to attack, when there’s times to defend, when there’s times to let the ball go.
“I watched his innings – I don’t know if he actually had to play at any ball that he faced. Maybe there might have been one or two out, but he played at so many balls outside that off stump. Some he missed, some he hit for four.
“For the first 15, 20 minutes, half an hour of that innings, he just had to try and get the shine off that new ball, get through that first spell of (Kagiso) Rabada, get through that first spell of Marco Jansen.”
With Cameron Green set to return from an abdominal injury for the third Test in Cape Town, Maddinson appears the most obvious candidate to make way, with Hussey in favour of an order reshuffle that would see Renshaw return to opening.
“He is someone that has opened the batting a lot throughout his first-class career, so he understands that role probably a lot better than Nic Maddinson does at this stage,” he said of the Queenslander.
“I’d be happy with that (moving him to open).”
Hussey also believes the opening spot, while not necessarily for only openers, needs to be occupied by players with solid techniques, as was the case for former great Simon Katich of yesteryear, who provided great service at the top of the order despite batting in the middle order at first-class level.
“There are some fundamentals of the game that will always remain true and will always remain solid,” he said.
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“When it comes to being an opening batter in Test match cricket, it’s a bloody tough role. It’s something that takes years and years of learning, being in different situations, to actually be able to handle those situations as well as you possibly can.
“It’s not something you can just go, let’s just give him a go at doing that because we think someone else might do a better job down (the order) or whatever.”
While the make-up of the top order will be front of mind going into the crucial third Test in Cape Town, one face Hussey does expect to see back in the team is Nathan Lyon.
The off-spinner was dropped for the second Test in favour of a four-man pace attack, with inclusion Scott Boland excelling with a five-wicket haul but captain Pat Cummins going wicketless and Josh Hazlewood struggling with illness.
For Hussey, that selection call was also an error – though Green’s fitness to bowl as well as bat may be crucial to his chances of returning to the team.
“If it’s nice weather and the forecast is relatively dry, then I would expect him to be in the team,” he said of a Lyon recall.
“Maybe a bit of it comes down to the availability of Cameron Green to be able to bowl … if he can bowl, say, 10 to 15 overs a day, then that would certainly help a lot, and then work in Nathan Lyon’s favour.
“Personally, I always like to have a spinner in the XI. I just think it adds variety to the attack, especially someone like Nathan who can play dual roles – he can just try and bowl and keep it tight if need be, he can also look to attack if the conditions suit.
“If it was up to me, I would (pick Lyon).”
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