Australia’s ideal team for South Africa tour still no clearer than before Bangladesh visit | Geoff Lemon

The quick-fire series in the Northern Territory did little to answer batting line-up questions and the top of the order remains an almighty jumble Cricket Australia didn’t host a Bangladesh Test for 23 years for a simple reason: it would have cost money to stage and earned less money back.

That wouldn’t have been a concern for whichever generation of players would have taken the field, but for the suits, the equation was lose-lose.

Now that the mandate of the World Test Championship has forced administrators to end that long wait, the result for Australia’s current batting outfit was also been lose-lose, even if the series scoreline ended up lose-win.

Defeat in the Darwin Test will remain a punchline at Australia’s expense, especially if the upcoming cavalcade of cricket against South Africa, New Zealand, India and England goes poorly.

The follow-up win in Mackay , no matter the ruthlessness of concluding it in five sessions, won’t provide corresponding solace, given the manner in which it was built.

Continue reading...