{"id":455991,"date":"2025-07-10T21:05:39","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T21:05:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=455991"},"modified":"2025-07-10T22:14:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T22:14:34","slug":"troubling-aussie-reality-exposed-as-coach-hits-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=455991","title":{"rendered":"Troubling Aussie reality exposed as coach hits out"},"content":{"rendered":"

The world Test batting rankings have exposed a scary reality for Australia<\/a> but their batting coach Michael Di Venuto has hit out at criticism of the top order.<\/p>\n

A 2-0 lead in Australia's Test series against the West Indies has not been enough to dismiss concerns about the batting unit leading into the Ashes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Retired English bowler Stuart Broad took aim at Australia's "muddled" top order and called for the nation to better protect Steve Smith.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>Ten players Blues must consider in sweeping shake-up\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Prop's ugly face slap mars Bulldogs' resilient win\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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\ufeff"I'm not out of place in thinking it's the most muddled top three in my lifetime," Broad told the Grade Cricketer podcast.<\/p>\n

"I've grown up with [Justin] Langer, [Matt] Hayden, [Ricky] Ponting, [David] Warner, [Shane] Watson, and [Marnus] Labuschange in his first few years was a gun.<\/p>\n

"I think Usman [Khawaja] is struggling. Cameron Green at three? He's a five or six isn't he? He's pushing too hard [at the ball]. \ufeff<\/p>\n

\"Marnus<\/p>\n

"Ultimately with Labuschange, I know he's struggled for a couple of years but he is a good player. I'd be surprised if he doesn't come back into the frame at some stage.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"(Sam) Konstas is just young, learning his way. Those pitches in the Caribbean have been tricky. I imagine he'll get a run [in the Ashes].<\/p>\n

"I saw him (bat in the) net at Lord's in the World Test Championship when he didn't play… you get a few low scores and you start to question yourself. I think he's there to stay.<\/p>\n

"One of Australia's greatest strengths is when Smudge (Smith) arrives with a 35-over old ball and it's doing nothing… They need to find a way to protect Smith and Head at four and five who are unbelievable."<\/p>\n

With the first Ashes Test<\/a> set to begin in November, Broad admits he does not see Australian selectors keeping the same top three formation from the Caribbean series.<\/p>\n

Khawaja and Konstas have opened the batting, and Australia is trying to turn Green into a first drop.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"The Aussie selectors get it right, generally… [but] they can't be watching from the Caribbean at the minute going 'yeah, our top three is amazing'," he said.<\/p>\n

Broad's comments were \ufeffdismissed by the team's batting coach Di Venuto, who laughed: "Stuart Broad? Is he a selector?", when they were put to him this week.<\/p>\n

\"Sam<\/p>\n

However, despite his own confidence in his players, Di Venuto did concede that the top order has not reached its potential in recent years.<\/p>\n

"We don't hide behind the fact that we haven't functioned as a unit for the last couple of years," Di Venuto said.<\/p>\n

"Take out the Sri Lanka series where we were outstanding in spinning conditions, it's been really hard work. We've relied on individual brilliance to get us totals.<\/p>\n

"Batting averages have come down and so too the bowling averages. That's just the way it is.<\/p>\n

\ufeff"I think there is a lot of [Sheffield] Shield cricket leading into that first Ashes Test. Guys in form I dare say will get picked.<\/p>\n

"At the moment, there's no point sitting down and trying to nut something out when you're three months away."<\/p>\n

Following the World Test Championship final, Ian Healy said he believed Australia's batting had "regressed in performance at Test level" since Di Venuto joined the coaching team.<\/p>\n

Di Venuto admitted he was disappointed to hear it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"I can't really control that," he said before revealing he had not spoken to Healy.<\/p>\n

"If he's so worried about it, he can call me\ufeff. There's no issues there. We're comfortable with where we're at.<\/p>\n

\ufeff"It's hard work domestic cricket \u2026 [and] now in Test cricket. I think gone are the days in the era that I played in where they're flat wickets.<\/p>\n

"The legends that played through that time, they were playing on very good wickets. Conditions have changed, balls have changed. We've got to be patient with these guys."<\/p>\n

Di Venuto cited Steve Waugh as an example of how patience with a batter can ultimately lead to success.<\/p>\n

"Steve Waugh, one of our greats, took 27 Tests before he got a hundred. We've just got to be careful how we judge some people," Di Venuto said.<\/p>\n

"Matthew Hayden is another one. (He is) someone who absolutely dominated domestic cricket for years \u2026 but it took him a few times to get the hang of Test cricket."<\/p>\n

\"England<\/p>\n

As it stands, the highest ranked Australian batter in the Test format is Smith, who is fifth overall, followed by Travis Head \ufeffin 11th.<\/p>\n

Australia previously had Smith and Labuschagne at No.1 at different times, while Head and Khawaja also sat in the top 10.<\/p>\n

Now, English gun Harry Brook tops the world rankings after a sensational 158-run display in the first Innings of the second Test against India put him ahead of his teammate Joe Root.<\/p>\n

The fact England batters are one-two in the standings spells trouble for Australia ahead of the Ashes.\ufeff<\/p>\n

New Zealand's Kane Williamson and India's Yashasvi Jaiswal are the only two batters between Smith and the English duo.<\/p>\n

Alex Carey and Khawaja are the only others Australian batters in the top 20.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The world Test batting rankings have exposed a scary reality for Australia but their batting coach Michael Di Venuto has hit out at criticism of […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":455993,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455991"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=455991"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":455998,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455991\/revisions\/455998"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/455993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=455991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=455991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=455991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}