Its mostly technique.
Have a look at Marsh and Voges dismissals in the 4th test.
Reaching out with the hands too far in front of the body instead of playing late with the ball under the eyes. On the roads we bat on here in Australia they refer to that as driving on the up and we get away with that as there is no sideways movement off the pitch but on their green top the balls comes off slower and moves sideways off the seam.
Problem with batting on roads in this country and we need to address this with teh pitches we prepare for our 4 day games, make batsmen think about their shots and practice leaving the ball.
I don't completely our agree our pitches are all roads. The Gabba and Perth are generally very good for quicks, hobart can be also, Sydney will often crumble but can offer something for quicks early (was shit this year though). Adelaide can spin late, Melbourne is kind of crap.
But they generally have quite good, sharp bounce that is exploited by our bowlers well and adjusted for by our batsmen. Much of our players game are built around the amount of bounce on Australian pitches.
And our bowling attack of late (apart from the Saffa's) will generally run through all sorts of quality batsmen when they come over here, just like we get done when we go to the UAE or India or England (Generally we've been good enough/opposition bowlers weak enough to overcome Sri Lanka, Windies, NZ conditions in recent years, although NZ haven't been as strong a bowling lineup in a long time).
It's not so much that we play on roads, it's that we don't adjust to foreign conditions, and there's a bit of a difference between the two. But it's evident in our bowling as well as our batting. It's also typical of almost every side that is not South Africa.
As far as technique goes, plenty have suceeded without textbook styles, but there's a few fundamental things that tend to be important. I do think a good mentality can overcome technical flaws - see Steve Smith amongst others, when he's at his best.
I suspect a good technique is most valuable when you're out of form. When you're struggling for runs it's generally a bit easier to lean on a good technique to grind out for a while, scrap yourself back into form. When your technique isn't particularly good and you are out of form it can get pretty ugly (Smith early on, also inexperience, Hughes at difference stages, various 'eye' players once their eyes start to go).
, plus wasn't listening to the radio or had phone net to check on the weather
