Source: The Sunday Telegraph
THIS is not the crisis Australian cricket was meant to have. Not with the Ashes 16 weeks away.
Searching for answers, defiant captain Michael Clarke will move up the batting order in a desperate bid to stop the rot after Australia crashed to an embarrassing innings loss against India in the second Test.
In a dark day for Australian cricket, the Hyderabad horror show was over by lunch on day four as India completed a ruthless hatchet job to consign the tourists (131) to an innings and 135-run defeat.
Rajiv Gandhi Stadium resembled a cricketing abattoir yesterday as a slew of Australian batsmen batted like meandering Brown's cows before meeting a swift 237-minute execution.
Only Ed Cowan (44 from 150 balls) showed a scintilla of resolve yesterday as the tourists lost 8-56 to be rolled for 131, slumping to a 2-0 deficit that will almost certainly cost them the Border-Gavaskar trophy.
And now the ugly post-mortem begins.
For Clarke, there is no longer any option. He has been content to bat at No.5 but after watching this appalling collapse, the third consecutive implosion on this tour, the Australian skipper declared he must go up the order.
"I have no choice," said Clarke, who backed up his 130 and 31 in Chennai with 91 and 16 in this Test.
"Again, it hasn't been about me, it's about trying to do what's best for the team, and I think now, especially in these conditions, I have to bat higher."
Australia's batting order capitulates again, losing five wickets early on day four of the second Test in Hyderabad.
Clarke is unsure if he will bat three or four in the third Test at Mohali starting March 14, but when asked about Australia's insipid display, he was unequivocal.
"It's obviously unacceptable," he fired. "It's probably more polite of me by not putting it into words.
"Very disappointing. I certainly don't want to take any credit away from India, I thought they played very well yesterday, they showed us once again how to bat in these conditions, they showed us once you get in how to go on and cash in and make a big score.
"At the end of the day our performances in these two Test matches have been unacceptable, certainly nowhere near the standard we are trying to set as an Australian cricket team.
"There's plenty of people that not only watch us on TV but fly around the world to support us and watch us and we know we've let them down."
A drawn campaign would see Australia retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy but on the evidence of the first two Tests they will be lucky to avert a 4-0 whitewash.
Now pressure is on the selectors to finally pull the right rein to save a tour on the brink of implosion.
In the wake of the first-Test defeat, the panel axed bowlers Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Starc in the hope a re-jigged attack could square the series.
Australia are 192 runs behind India despite a stirring fightback by their much-maligned spinners on day three of the second Test in Hyderabad.
India's mammoth 503 in the second Test does not absolve the bowlers of blame, but the batsmen are sure to enter the firing line after consecutive innings of mediocrity.
Phil Hughes (19 and 0) and Shane Watson (23 and 9) both suffered twin failures and there will be pressure to elevate left-hander Usman Khawaja, the shadow batsman in the 16-man touring party.
Seeing blood in the water, Clarke will now promote himself for the third Test to bolster a top-order looking as unreliable as a politician's promise.
It took just 18 balls to start the rot, with Watson departing in the third over of the morning after edging behind an Ishant Sharma delivery that was sailing down the leg side.
Once again, Clarke arrived to the wicket facing a rescue mission, but even this was a bridge too far, the skipper lasting just 31 balls before being clean bowled by Jadeja to leave Australia 4-108.
With the skipper back in the pavilion, the tourists fell apart.
Cowan, who had batted with great heart and patience, departed just three runs later, edging Jadeja to Virender Sehwag at first slip to end his gusty 150-ball innings.
And when rookie Henriques was run out four balls later after Matt Wade took off for a quick single to leave Australia 6-111, it typified their Fawlty Towers performance in this Test.
Smelling blood, India went for the jugular. Debutant Glenn Maxwell was the seventh victim, trapped lbw by Ashwin for eight to add to his first-innings failure of 13.
Peter Siddle (4) then edged Jadeja to Virat Kohli and Wade (10) departed the very next ball, Ashwin catching an edge which sailed to Sehwag to leave Australia 9-130.
Ashwin delivered the last rites, trapping James Pattinson (0) lbw to claim another five-wicket haul and leave the tourists in disarray.
Alarm bells are ringing everywhere. If the bowlers are inept, the batsmen, excluding Clarke, are impotent.
It is one thing to go down fighting in largely foreign conditions. It is another to fall in pea-hearted fashion - and Clarke's patience is wearing thin.
"The first two Test matches we've let each other down," he said. "At the moment our shot selection has been horrible.
"That's the most disappointing thing for me ... as a team we're letting each other down.
"We have to look at both areas (batting and bowling) that's for sure.
"Both have been unacceptable, both aren't good enough.
"We have to try and find ways to improve and if that means making changes that's what we have to do."
Where Australia go from here is anyone's guess.
FULL SCOREBOARD AT THE FOX SPORTS MATCH CENTRE
***
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