Replacements needed but the cupboard is bare..
Date March 5, 2013 - 9:40PM Chris Barrett Sports Writer
HYDERABAD: Humiliating. That is the only word for it. Australia's abject campaign in India was already a throwback to the dark ages of the 1980s, when Allan Border's men were lucky to beat a backyard side.
Now it is at rock bottom, and so are they.
Australia had turned up in south India a month ago, in dribs and drabs, on a reconnaissance mission to learn or gain a revision on the challenges that would confront them on the subcontinent.
They had turned up as much with hope as confident ambition that they could be only Australia's second touring party to win here in 40 years. India, after all, were ranked fifth in the world, had just been humbled at home by England and were supposedly there for the taking.
This was meant to be the launching pad for the main event of the cricket calendar the quest for the Ashes in the English summer, and then the re-match in Australia later in the year.
Instead, they have crashed and burned and have to scramble to pick up what pieces are left. Losing in India is not a crime, but losing like this is.
A defeat of monumental proportions in the second Test, by an innings and 135 runs, leaves them in crisis, worse than the 47 in Cape Town and losing to New Zealand in Hobart.
Australia's batsmen exited with such frequency at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium on Tuesday morning that it was as if they had somewhere else to be.
Victory, after the events of the preceding three days, was always going to be a long shot. Even saving the match was at distant odds. But the way in which they were felled, losing 8-57 before lunch, was embarrassing.
The fingers can be pointed at the selectors, at the bowling attack, at a lack of top-class spinners, but the villains here have been the batsmen.
Michael Clarke aside the top order has been abysmal. Combating the spin lobbed at them on dusty pitches by the Indian tricksters was always going to be a major issue. But inexperience in such conditions isn't an excuse for what has been served up in Hyderabad.
Patience and respect for their wickets seemed to be totally absent, and shot selection was awful. Too many have been fooled playing across the line and against the spin.
Clarke, the one batsman who has been a match for India, has already indicated that enough is enough and he will move up the order, probably to No.4.
Whether that is any help is anyone's guess. Shane Watson and Phil Hughes, for starters, are lucky to be even holding their places. The problem is that there is basically no one else to come in.
This could be the lot we're stuck with.
