Jasprit Bumrah v Australia’s top four

3 minute read

Would it be fair to say that Jasprit Bumrah had the better of Australia’s top order in Perth? Not really. Not unless you also feel the Death Star had the better of Alderaan. So is there any cause for optimism for these batters beyond the timeless fallback, “well surely it can’t get any worse”?

If it weren’t for the bit where they got bowled out for 104, and the bit where they conceded 487-6, and the bit where they fell to 17-4 chasing 534 to win, Australia would have had an okay game in the first Test.

Those things did happen though and the almost total lack of runs from their top four was a pretty significant element.

Not coincidentally, Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith are the men tasked with getting through Jasprit Bumrah’s opening spell.

Australia’s stand-in captain felt Dantooine was too remote to make an effective demonstration, so this is what we got instead…

• Khawaja: 8 and 4 – one dismissal to Bumrah
• McSweeney: 10 and 0 – twice dismissed by Bumrah
• Labuschagne: 2 and 3 – one dismissal to Bumrah
• Smith: 0 and 17 – one dismissal to Bumrah

We suppose you could also throw in the nightwatchthree, Pat Cummins, who made 2 in the second innings after being dismissed by Bumrah for 3 in his regular number eight spot in the first.

Shall we play ‘taking the positives’?

The leap from Smith’s first innings golden duck to his second innings 17 was colossal and almost certainly resulted from dropping even further down the order. Maybe he should become a leg-spinner again and bat at number nine.

Labuschagne too came on in absolute leaps and bounds after self-demoting below his captain. He took 52 balls to make 2 in the first innings, but surpassed that tally just three balls into his second knock.

Labuschagne then also survived his fourth ball, an achivement which is very much worth highlighting given that he could and should have been out to Bumrah second ball in the first innings.

The man who dropped that chance was of course Virat Crawley, who came out and made a hundred in India’s second innings.

If nothing else, that development goes to show that nothing’s etched in stone. Maybe Grand Moff Tarkin won’t be quite so trigger happy in Adelaide next week.