Australia’s shock nine-wicket defeat to Bangladesh in Darwin has put several senior players under the scanner, with Nathan Lyon and Marnus Labuschagne among those under scrutiny.
Lyon, Australia’s second-most successful Test bowler with 568 wickets, endured a difficult outing against Bangladesh, registering figures of 1/125. In contrast, Bangladesh’s Mehidy Hasan Miraz played a decisive role with 5/66. Australia head coach Andrew McDonald, however, backed the veteran spinner, stating that Bangladesh had handled Lyon extremely well despite the conditions being suited to the batters.
“I think they played him exceptionally well,”
McDonald said at the post-match press conference. “As a whole, their batting unit, even against our quicks, they played the ball late, they were very patient and disciplined. And then they pounced when there was a scoring option, when we gave too much width.
“There wasn’t a lot in the surface at that point in time for Nathan. So it’s very hard to judge one-off sample sizes to the function of that attack. I think they (Bangladesh) played very well, and that’s credit to them.”
Labuschagne also struggled, scoring one in the first innings and 31 in the second. McDonald admitted the batter’s lack of runs but defended his second-innings approach.
“I think it was 31 he got in the second innings, and up until the point he got out, you’d sit there and say he was looking good.
“He was moving well, he’s clipping off his pads, he was getting back through the ball down the ground. So it’s easy for me to sit here and try to defend that, but ultimately it’s 31. It’s not a big score. He’s lacked runs. He feels that. We feel that. We’re working incredibly hard as a coaching group.”
With Australia’s average age nearing 34, calls for regeneration have intensified. Ricky Ponting, for starters, said on Channel 7: “I was on the record at the end of last summer thinking that this was the ideal time to start to regenerate this team.”
McDonald, however, urged caution.
According to a video posted on the ICC’s Instagram account, he said: “It’s always going to be a conversation, the age profile of the team. A loss doesn’t help that. But these players have got a fair bit of cricket left in them. And it’s, I suppose, how we navigate through it.”
Reflecting on the situation, he said: “There’s always going to be a call for change at the back of a loss. There’s always going to be an emotion around that from the outside, and even internally. Our guys are sitting in the dressing room, and they’re feeling it. You feel a Test loss. It means a lot to them to play for Australia, so let’s not lose that in all this as well.
“The easy option is to call for change. A lot of people call for change when we aren’t winning. They’re entitled to do that as well on the back of a performance like that. So that’s part of our lot.”
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