Latest / The Follow-On / “Careers in SERIOUS strife!” Is a major Australian batting shake-up coming? - RSA vs Australia 2nd Test, Day 4 Review

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“Careers in SERIOUS strife!” Is a major Australian batting shake-up coming? - RSA vs Australia 2nd Test, Day 4 Review · The Follow-On

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to another episode of the Joint Fox
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Cricket and Code Sports Australia follow-on podcast.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: My name is Courtney Walsh.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: I'm a senior writer from Fox Sports Australia, joined by
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Code Sports maestro Dan Cherney.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: It's a really breezy.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Day here in Klauberka and the times are blowing in
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: the wind. At least three Australian players. It's been, the
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: times are changing. The gale is sweeping through the Australian
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: changing room as we speak because what has unfolded here
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: has been a crisis. Well, a shocking day for Australian cricket.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Maybe not a crisis, but certainly a day where a
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: lot of failings were exposed.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: Tell us what unfolded.
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: Well, it was a disastrous day for Australia as you
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: touched on, Courtney.
• 0:48
  Speaker 4: Of course, South Africa returned the match on day three
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: on the back of those splendid partnerships between Timber Mavuma
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: and Marco Janssen, and Temba Boomer, and Simon Harmer, and
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: Australia losing Mick Maddison late on day three. So at
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: the start of the day, one for three, more than
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: 400 runs in arrears. And then things got a lot worse,
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: because they were bowled out for 99, and the follow-on forced.
• 1:08
  Speaker 4: And that is despite the fact that South Africa, and
• 1:11
  Speaker 4: he just walked past us about two minutes ago, lost
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: Anrich Nukia to a quad injury. He's not going to
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: bowl for the rest of the match. He's probably out
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: of the series, realistically. So despite the fact that they
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: were down a bowler, they still felt emboldened. And clearly
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: the fact that there was only a day and a
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: half left in the match was a strong factor in this.
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: They still felt emboldened to send Australia back in. So
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: Australia following on for just the third, funnily enough, it's
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: the name of the podcast. The third follow on this century.
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: Nottingham 2005 during the Ashes. The match Australia actually almost
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: won just quietly. Sydney 2019, early 2019 against India, where
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: Australia ended up being saved by rain, but India won
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: the series.
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: And then here, the Aussies got to stumps four down.
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: There's a lot of room for improvement in the second innings.
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: And it did play out.
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: Travis Head is on the verge of what would just
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: be his second overseas test century. He's 87, not out.
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: Scott Pollard, having started the day with Travis Head batting,
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: finished the day with Travis Head batting.
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: He came out right here an hour.
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: Or so ago, 45 minutes or so ago, to bat
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: at number six.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Must have been one of the rare occasions where your
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: night watchman has come out to bat at number three.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: and finish on two not out. And at the end
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: of the next day's play, he comes in and he's
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: still two not out. It's just unfortunately that.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: Australia has had a calamitous day with the bat.
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: Unfortunately, though, that was the good news, I suppose, Travis
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: Head and his runs. But the bad news is, well, firstly,
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: Steve Smith hasn't batted yet in the second innings. He's
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: got a dodgy neck at the moment. Had some neck stiffness,
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: was getting work on it. Very much bothered during his 28,
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: which top scored in this horrendous first innings.
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: In which Australia was all out for 99.
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: Now, Australian coach Andrew McDonald has said in the press
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: conference half an hour or so ago that they are
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: likely to, they are planning for Smith to bat tomorrow.
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: So that's good news. He'll end up batting no.
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: Higher than seven given they've already lost four wickets.
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: The bad news though, really bad news, and this is
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: bad news on an individual front, is that the three guys,
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: and we don't take any great pleasure in doing this,
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: but there's three guys whose test careers are in serious strife.
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: Nick Maddison, who As I said, fell last night and
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: then fell again today to Kehisa Rabada for eight. The
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: move to promote him to the top of the order
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: after a shock inclusion for the squad altogether has not worked.
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: One score of 48 in the second innings in Durban,
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: but three failures, including two ducks. He is in serious
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: doubt probably to play the bat again and test cricket,
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: to be frank.
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: Marnus Labuschagne, well, out in the 30s again, out for 39.
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: Up to 237s.
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: In the first test and a 30-odd, I think it
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: was in Darwin.
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: He just has not been able to get going beyond, well, sorry,
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: he's got going, but he has not been able to
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: get these starts.
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: Got a life on 36, or when I say life,
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: he deserved it.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: 47 millimetres.
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: LBW reprieve for Simon Harmer. Having survived that, he looked
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: to the heavens. He's a religious man and he thought...
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: You imagine he thought, I've got a chance here to
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: go big. And he batted pretty nicely to that point.
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: Not without any fault, but in tricky enough conditions, he
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: batted pretty well. And he and Travis Head were going
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: along very nicely after the early loss.
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: And then what was he thinking?
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: He goes dancing down the wicket, goes out to Long On,
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: was it? off-hammer, and you look here, it is windy,
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: and this is, we were told before the match by
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: a couple of our South African colleagues that there's a
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: batting wind here and a bowling wind.
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: He's hit it way up high, and it's.
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: Got caught up, swirling breeze, Jansen's tracked back and it's
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: caught him, and Marnus Labuschagne, well, his hand, his fate
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: is now in the.
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: Lap of the gods, because he was out for 39.
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: I'll get to the final one, we can go through.
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: Them individually in a second, or as a collective if
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: you'd like, but the final man whose spot is now
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: very much in doubt going forward is Bo Webster, um,
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: who had done so well across his first seven or
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: eight test matches, a couple of excellent tests in Sydney,
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: some very useful contributions in the West Indies last year,
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: World Test Championship final as well.
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: Unfortunately for him, there's.
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: Probably been some regression to the mean. He was out
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: for eight LBW to Harmer, out twice today. He looked
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: all at sea, batting in the first innings, for the
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: most part, it must be said, too. I forgot to mention,
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: Marnus had been out cheaply in the first innings because
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: two of these guys, they batted twice today, out twice
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: in the same day. And then Bolin's not out twice
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: in the same, well, sorry, he was out eventually. The
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: first guy to be out. It's hard to keep track.
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: Amidst all this, Alex Carey has been pushed down the
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: order because of Smith's injury. They've had Bolin batting at
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: three and then at six. This flexible batting order is
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: snapped in half.
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: It's so flexible.
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: And unfortunately for Australia, they are in a world of pain.
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: They need to try to hang on to this test
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: match tomorrow, save it. There is still hope because Smith
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: could potentially, you know, hopefully Smith's neck comes good.
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: He's still to come. And when you've got Smith and
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: Head there.
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: And Boland is the night watchman at the moment, and Carey,
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: there's enough there that, you know, there is an outside
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: chance they could save this test and potentially at least
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: make South Africa bat again.
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: Well, they'd still 100 and.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: Well, they'd need another 170-odd.
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: To make them bat again. That's certainly.
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: but a long way between even getting there and then
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: a long way to get there and then to make
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: that long enough and make enough runs so that South
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: Africa don't have time to chase down the game. So
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: a really dismal day, it must be said, for Australia
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: on every front and one that has a tall manner
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: of soul-searching. I feel like one point I want to make,
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: the last point I want to make, sorry, Courtney.
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: No, no, no, all good.
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: On that is that in the past when Australia's had
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: these desperately dirty days, with a bat, and there are
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: a handful of them that spring to mind over, you know,
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: certainly in my lifetime and in recent memory. It was
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: all out for 60 at Nottingham in 2015, all out
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: for 85 at Hobart in 2016, which was the end
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: of it.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: It basically led the selectors' long knives to come in
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: and the catalyst for change, and Nick Maddison came into
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: that team as a result of that.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: Exactly.
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: All out for 47 in Cape Town in 2011, slightly different.
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: I think the thing here is that they're not... Even
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: if this turns further pear-shaped tomorrow, the series will still
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: not be over.
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: They've got a test to play. So that's where the
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: dilemma in terms of how hard... Clearly, there's going to
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: be change.
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: Andrew McDonald said he's not willing to make change in
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: the test match, but it's going to happen. But the
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: extent to which it happens is somewhat shaped by the
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: fact that they're not going to fly three guys in
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: and turn.
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: Over the squad like that. There's just not the time.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: Logistically, it's unlikely.
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: They've got several guys waiting in the wings. Josh Inglis
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: and Cameron Green both pressing to return from their respective injuries.
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: Cooper Connolly sitting on the pine. Sam Harper is too.
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: They've got options here. Are they all outstanding options? No,
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: but they are options nonetheless. Courtney, I'll give you a word.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: Well, look, I mean, I think Marnus is probably the
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: man of the moment. He has been the man of
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: the series. He's the one that had the spotlight on him.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: Australian cricket has got a habit. There's history of this,
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: of turning players. when they make a wild shot. Damien Martin,
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: back in the mid-1990s, against Alan Donald, Australia was on
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: the cusp of a win, lashed out in the airborne drive.
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: He's caught. Exile of six years for Test cricket after that.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: Brad Hodge was bounced out by Andre Null, another pro tier,
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: in 2006 at the SCG. Effectively, a couple of innings
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: after making a massive, massive score, his career ended. The
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: shot that Marnus played today in the circumstances where he's
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: batting for the second time He's batting arguably to save
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: his career. He's batting certainly to try and save the
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: test for Australia. He's batting at a time where he's
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: in and in rhythm with Travis Head and they're making
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: a partnership.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: He's just had a life.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: To then lose his wicket the way he did, it's
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: just that type of wild shot that you think. In
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: AFL football, for example, which are the states we're from,
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: we call them coach killers. Andrew McDonald came in and
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: afterwards he'd spoken after.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: Play and he said... We've spoken before about it. We
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: talked about being in the 30s, et cetera.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: That, for mine, is a really difficult symptom. The flip
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: side is, of course, he has made three scores in
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: the 30s. A lot of others are not making runs,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: and you talk about this crisis that we have.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: But, wow, that just struck me that Australia, is it
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: a hat trick?
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: The Proteas might have taken out three batsmen over the
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: space of 20 years through just some wild brain fade.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: So I'll be fascinated to see what unfolds there.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: In that regard.
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: Of the three, I think Maddison is the most untenable because, A,
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: Matt Renshaw failed twice today, so it's gone from chocolate
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: to the ball volleys for him, and an excellent catch
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: also in this test match already, but after Renshaw's test
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: last week, as it was dubbed, by several, but clearly
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: he's an option.
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: That can return to the top of the order. He's
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: not bankable. It's certainly a very viable option there.
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: So I think Maddison is the one that just, you know,
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: Rabada has now got him three times in 15 balls
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: in Test cricket. He just doesn't look up to it, unfortunately. And,
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: you know, there's been three failures in four innings. It
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: was already a reach of selection. And if Green comes back, well,
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: it's just a natural enough change. Webster, I think, would
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: be gone if Green could bowl. I think that would
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: be a no-brainer. But the dynamic changes somewhat because even
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: though Cameron Green did return to bowl today, it's, you know,
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: whether he's going to be in the nets, whether he's
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: going to be able to.
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: Do so in a match is pretty doubtful.
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: I think so. And I think that's really unlikely.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: I mean, look, the positive just in terms of that,
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: the fact that he is bowling in the nets is
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: a step forward in terms of.
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: It shows that he's closing in on being able to
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: play test cricket and you know, they need the best
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: version of Cameron Green and hopefully they can get him.
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: Which leaves you, so Webster there is an interesting one.
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: I mean, you've also got Connolly potentially could replace Webster
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: as a more like-for-like. It probably depends a little bit
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: on the attack. But, I mean, Alex Carey gets a
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: bat sneakily, not going overly well with a bat either
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: at the moment.
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: Shouldn't be forgotten. But I think with Martis, it is tricky.
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: Because I think, you know, his cumulative output is, well,
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: it's probably comparable to Travis Head's for the series. Head's
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: probably now made a few more runs, but not by
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: a lot. I mean, with 3.30, in fact, maybe not.
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: Three scores in the high 30s and 1.14 as a
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: cumulative lot is not a great series, but it's not
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: a disaster.
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: But the problem is for Marnus, and I know.
• 11:31
  Speaker 4: He was dropped in the West Indies, but this is
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: more than three years of this. This is this endless
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: run of scores in the 30s. Forget about trying to
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: get to the test 100. Could he get to 40?
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: I mean, that would be nice at this point. And
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: I think if it was too... If Australia, the series
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: was over, it would be 100% to be gone.
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: Like, there'd just be.
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: There's no possible justification to continue with him because it
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: just reaches a point where no return and they've got
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: a home series against New Zealand and they're going to
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: have to start to have some degree of regeneration. But
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: I'm refusing to completely draw a line through it because
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: there's not.
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: Again, it's not like you've got... scores of options on
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: the ground.
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: You've got a few, but none of them are perfect.
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: And if you already bring one guy up to the
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: top of the order, and then you've got, like, who
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: bats three.
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: If not minus?
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: Smith's not going to want to do it.
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: So you're either probably, I mean, you're either, you know,
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: throwing Inglis up there, Inglis or Connolly. Or, and the
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: very left field selection, but he has at least done
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: it at first class levels, you throw Sam Harper up
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: to the top of the order, and then you leave,
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: and then you throw, maybe put, Green as a specialist
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: bat at three.
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: I mean, all these things have to be to agree
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: and play.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: Having not played since the one day.
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: None of these are great options, but that's the situation
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: that you get left in when you're all up to 99.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: So the caveat is, of course, Australia did win that
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: first test. So we are 1-0 up.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: An old friend of yours, a good fellow, a journalist
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: for another rival publication, Andrew Wu, friend of the program,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: we'll say, friend of the follow-on. I made the point,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: and I thought it was quite an interesting one, he said,
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: With young teams who are coming through, you'll get wild
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: fluctuations in form. But you'll also get that with champion
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: athletes at the tail end of their careers and champion teams.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: You'll see the disparity of performance. They can still pull
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: them out when it matters, but you're also more prone
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: to failing in big occasions as well.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: It's a natural thing.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: We've seen it through history of athletes, champion performers, that
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: things can go wrong and the gaps between your best
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: and your worst tighten as you get to your peak,
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: but as you're in that development stage or tallying off,
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: they start to fall apart. And this has been light
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: and day in a lot of regards. Another factor at play,
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: we saw the way the tail battered today. They were
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: outstanding in Durban and they really shepherded Matt Renshaw through.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: Without the tail in Durban, we wouldn't have, potentially we
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: could have been already out of this series because if
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: they don't fire, Renshaw doesn't make that big innings and
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: we're in a lot of trouble.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: So, You know, it's a real concern. It's a big
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: concern with the top order.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: And, you know, the tail got them out of trouble
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: in terms of the bat and the ball in Durban. Here,
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: they couldn't get them out of trouble with the ball,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: and they went out with the bat and just a
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: massive score to face to try and take down the
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: same one.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: And two days to bat, today they proved they weren't
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: up to it.
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: Werner Philander, the full-time quick, who's been saying that, I mean,
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: not quick, no, no, he's a bit nitpicky about it, but.
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: Not really quick.
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: Anyway.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: Certainly.
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: Seymour. A very, very good player nonetheless.
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: And he's a lively character.
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: Lively character.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: He crashed a box earlier this week inadvertently.
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: That's a story for another night. Maybe a non-published podcast.
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: But the point being, Firm Philander from RCN, he described
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: Australia's batting.
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: As gutless, which is a pretty strong term.
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: Pretty gutless.
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: Pretty gutless.
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: And I wonder if he was referring a bit to
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: some of the shot selection of the tails.
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: Who seemed to a degree to turn their toes up just.
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: A bit, that it was like, well, if the top
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: order is going to throw their wickets away and then
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: not have the conviction, we're just going to not bother.
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: Maybe I'm wrong, but it just spiralled out of control
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: pretty quickly there. And sometimes we have seen Australia's tail wag,
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: and today was not one of those days. And I
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: wonder if the lower order, and they would never consider
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: this publicly, but you do want to just in the
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: back of it, and I'm actually not having a go
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: at the ball this year, because I wonder in the
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: back of their mind, they thought, we have bailed these
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: guys out so often. And if they're not going to
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: dig in, why should we?
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: And look, I think the philanderer can say, because he
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: is a former cricketer and they were his words and
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: they're the words that have been quoted. I also look
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: at then, we see Travis Head out there who gets
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: crunched three.
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: Times on the leg.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: He was in a world of pain trying to bat.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: And he did put a big price on it. Now,
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: maybe it's too late. We think it's too late. Things
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: may change tomorrow because there's been a wildly changing series
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: so far. But he batted with real grit this afternoon
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: after being– he was hobbled. He was down on his knee.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: He was in a world of trouble. And I thought
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: Steve Smith, even though he got out, you could see
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: how much discomfort he was in when he was batting
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: in the first series. He was not right, and yet
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: he really tried to make a stand. I think we– yeah, look,
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: I think it's probably a more broader collective then because
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: I think the bowlers batted with real obstinance and resilience
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: last week.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: I'm not so sure. I think it might be just
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: the collective– a collective that that.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: Was aimed at, but it's, but yeah, certainly it's open
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: to interpretation because when you put in, you know, when
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: you bat and you're all out for 99 and you're
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: forced to follow on for the third time in a century,
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: it's going to be a lot of people voicing opinions
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: and a lot of people critical.
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: Look, there's an enormous opportunity for Smith to, you know,
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: enhance his legend tomorrow to come out and bat, you know, in,
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: in having had some discomfort for human head, who again,
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: it should be noted has finally made some runs overseas and,
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: long baron run in in foreign conditions it's currently his
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: highest test score or i think it's his highest overseas
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: test score since uh the world's championship final must be
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: so in um in 2023 and you know for him
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: he did that really he was much more clearly there
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: was still plenty of attacking shots but i saw his
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: attacking shot percentage from quick views was considerably lower than
• 17:17
  Speaker 4: than usual so anyway we're waiting to see um again
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: all is not lost from australian perspective but undoubtedly change
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: is coming as much as Andrew O'Donnell can, you know,
• 17:27
  Speaker 4: sidestep the question for the time being, which is his
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: prerogative and probably his responsibility. But there's going to be
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: some movement at the station, Courtney, and it's going to
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: be fascinating over the.
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: Next few days.
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: Look, thanks so much for joining us.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: You'll be able to read Dan's analysis and all his
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: fine work at codesports.com.au tomorrow. I'll have a couple of
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: pieces up there. I spoke to Greg Chappell before this
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: series started, and he diagnosed Marnus with elite performance decline syndrome,
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: which he'd written about before, but I think it's apt
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: in this occasion. So I'll have something on that. We're
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: getting blown away by the wind.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: You'll see it's darkening. We've got to get upstairs and
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: do some work.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us as always on The Follow On,
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: and we'll bring you what unfolds tomorrow on day five.