Australia's batsmen need to protect their their tail and not the other way around

Peter Siddle (R) with Mitchell Starc

As for the middle order, Phil Hughes, the long-designated heir to Matthew Hayden, despite all his talent, has fizzled on the big stage. Despite 21 first class centuries, he has failed to live up to the expectations.

Others like David Warner, Shaun Marsh, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith and hold your breath, Glenn Maxwell, have flattered to deceive. Marsh, after a debut Test ton, endured a horror Test series against India and since then, he has yet to feature in a Test for his country.

Players like Warner and Maxwell, despite their obvious talents in the shorter formats (That Warner as an opener averages 29 in ODIs is a different issue altogether!), are not suited for Tests. Warner, in particular, is symbolic of what happens if a player debuts without playing a single first class game and then lets his “success” go to his head.

Khawaja, once an heir apparent to Ponting, has struggled himself, though he has not been given a continuous run. The oft-ridiculed Smith, on the other hand, seems to have matured, after some strong showings for Australia A. Matthew Wade, brought in to replace the seemingly “old” Brad Haddin has been a disappointment himself, despite showing initial promise.

The fact that proven performers on domestic circuit like Brad Hodge, Simon Katich and Chris Rogers etc. were dumped in favour of these bits-parts players was a disgrace in itself and has rightly haunted Australia in recent times.

Skipper Clarke, however, has been a major exception to what has so far been a horror showing by the Aussie batsmen in the post-Ponting and Hussey era. Since he became a full-time captain, he has gone on a major scoring spree, including an unbeaten 329 vs. India at SCG in January 2012, the highest individual score at the venue.

He finished the calendar year with four double centuries and 1595 runs. In the pre-Ashes tour to India, he was the only Australian batsman to score a century, while Indians on the other hand, scored 6 centuries throughout the series. He has consistently been let down by other batsmen in the side.

The joke going around after Australia’s second innings fight back at Trent Bridge was that if they have to bat well, they should play as if they are nine wickets down every time.

This joke is based on the performances of their lower order batsmen, first in India and now against England. While “batsmen” like Starc and Siddle played considerably well in India, the sudden emergence of Agar in England seems to have put all their batting troubles behind and all the talk has been over how difficult it will be for England to retain the urn.

Well, it may not be that difficult, because the lower order will not rescue Australia every time they are in crisis (because more often than not, they are!). The batsmen need to pull up their socks if they have to mount a serious challenge. Period.

For a country that produced batsmen like Bradman, Harvey, Chappell brothers, Border, Waugh Brothers, Ponting, Gilchrist, Hayden etc., their current batting predicament is a shame. Therefore the next time they bat, they need to do better than 117-9 or 231-9.