Australia’s batting collapses are mental, says batting coach Graeme Hick

Australian batting has failed to strike in the recently completed ODI series against India. (Source: Reuters)

England may be without Ben Stokes for the coming Ashes amid his controversial brawl while on a night out and that could be a massive boost for the Australian team who will play hosts starting November 23. But this added advantage could well be negated by Australia’s dismal batting record against a strong bowling lineup for England. On the other side is a strong Australian bowling attack against a weak England top order.

“There’s no hiding from it and we’re certainly going to try and start making amends,” said Australia’s batting coach Graeme Hick on the topic of recent collapses to cricket.com.au. Hick played 65 Tests for England in a 10-year career.

“Especially with the Ashes coming up, we certainly don’t want to be losing wickets in clumps. Our batting collapses are (mental). The players are all there, their techniques are set and they’re all very different and all very individual. Every side collapses at times, but at the moment we seem to be doing it quite a bit in both forms of the game. So I think it is a bit of a mental thing.”

In the past 18 months, Australia have gone from a position of strength to absolute mayhem in Colombo last year, in Perth, in Dharamshala against India in the four-match Test series and most recently, in Dhaka to lose the opening Test to Bangladesh. In each of these examples, Australia were in a dominant position and went on to be beaten.

“At times when it happens, especially after a long partnership, people sometimes get a little bit relaxed thinking everything is OK and you’re maybe not preparing mentally for that,” Hick says. “And the next thing you know you’re strapping your pads on, two or three wickets are down, and you’re out there. Maybe there’s a little bit of that. It happens in all cricket but it’s certainly something we’ve identified. You need to identify that (it’s) an important time in the game and maybe just hold yourself back a little bit. Our natural game is quite an aggressive game and at times maybe we need to step back a bit, let a few balls through to the keeper, have a look, take a few deep breaths and suck the atmosphere in rather than chasing things.”

Like Steve Smith or Darren Lehmann, who have asked for the batsmen to step up following a disappointing 1-4 ODI series loss against India, Hick was at a loss of words in explaining where the team is going wrong. “You can talk as much as you want about it, but they need to perform on the field,” he says. “They know that, they’re professionals and they were gutted at the end of (the ODI series). It’s disappointing for all. Them more than anyone else.”