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

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. Tearing up an opponent with the ball is something that the current Australian setup is always a chance to do.

Before Mackay, no Test team had ever had all four bowlers in the 300-wicket club. Two of those four ended the match among the top 10 wicket-takers of all time. A sport that is fundamentally about outscoring your opponent becomes a lot easier when your opponent can’t score.

Plenty of times in recent years, Australia’s bowling has ensured that not much is asked of Australia’s batting. While losing in Darwin, where the visiting batters were able to cope with Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon, the home team’s batting failed badly enough to almost lose by an innings. While winning in Mackay, Australia’s specialist batting did not improve.

Positions of 152-6 and 193-6 in the first Test worsened to 146-6 in the second. But this decline was offered a reprieve by such extreme bowling dominance that even one mid-strength score was enough to complete a win. The upshot is that Bangladesh’s visit has left the ideal Australian team structure even fuzzier than it was before.

A few weeks before travelling to face South Africa, a team with fast bowlers and conditions to suit them, Australia’s batting order has more question marks than the Riddler’s suit. Only one spot has more clarity thanks to Bangladesh: No 5 for Cameron Green. With more support, his rearguard century might have flipped the Darwin result, while even the ascendancy in Mackay might have been in trouble without his 67.