Steep learning curve for new-look Aussies ahead of Champs Trophy

It's less than a month since Steve Smith arrived in Sri Lanka with a Test outfit that had habitually struggled in subcontinent conditions, and duly handed the hosts' their largest-ever defeat in the five-day format on the way to completing a 2-0 clean sweep.

So in the hour after Australia yesterday crumpled to their biggest ODI defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka, and their heaviest 50-over loss in Asia, his reluctance to read too much into the 0-2 whitewash in the limited-overs leg of the tour was understandable.

It's another week before Australia play their next 50-over game – against England at Lahore to launch both nations' Champions Trophy campaign – but as he learned during the Tests, past form can count for little.

Even still, the scope of Australia's successive losses at Premadasa Stadium will doubtless provide for some earnest discussions among selectors and team leaders as they head to Pakistan this weekend.

In both games against Sri Lanka, the bowling in the back end of the home team's innings was unable to maintain the pressure applied during the first half, and the top-order batting succumbed to seam then spin in both digs.

Yesterday's batting implosion was an all-timer, with the first three wickets falling for 33 inside seven overs, then the last seven crashing for just 28 runs in less than 10 overs.

"We've been outplayed obviously in the last two games, Sri Lanka have played some really good cricket," Smith said in the aftermath of Australia's 174-run loss, their fourth largest (in terms of runs) in more than 50 years of ODI matches.

"They've played really well on this surface out here.

"This wicket in particular, the harder white ball (is) just skidding on quite venomously and then taking some spin as well.

"I thought their bowlers bowled really nicely; we didn't bat as well as we did throughout the Test matches.

"But it's another learning curve for us."

Like nine other members of a vastly reshaped 15-man squad for the Champions Trophy that is missing injured stars Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Mitch Marsh and recently retired Marcus Stoinis, Smith notes he's never before played ODI cricket in Pakistan.

But he toured there in 2022 for a three-match Test series before sitting out the white-ball leg and admits to keeping an eye on other 50-over warm-up fixtures currently taking place in Pakistan.

He therefore has an idea of what conditions they are likely to encounter, with batting potentially several degrees less challenging than he and his top-order colleagues found against the white ball in Colombo having performed so brilliantly with the bat during both Galle Tests.

"The ball skids on probably a little bit more (in Pakistan)," Smith said.

"So it's potentially better for batting but you've got to rock up and assess it, and play to the conditions on the day.

"We've got a few options (for the batting order).

"We'll talk over the next three or four days about which way we want to head and the personnel we want in the team, and that could change game-to-game depending on who we're coming up against and what we think the surface is going to do as well.

"We've got a 15-man squad, quite a few batters in that squad we can choose from and we'll pick whatever we feel is best for each scenario we face."

The issue facing Smith and coach Andrew McDonald is the repeated misfires at the start of the batting innings across Australia's recent ODI campaigns in the UK last September, at home against Pakistan last November and now at the hands of Sri Lanka.

In that period, only two batters have averaged in excess of 50 in the 50-over format – South Australians Alex Carey (68.33 from four innings) and Travis Head (66.50 from five) – with the next-best being skipper and fast bowler Cummins with 45.

Of the other regular top-order batters, Smith boasts the best average with 32.12 (from nine knocks) followed by Josh Inglis (26.4 from six), Marnus Labuschagne (22.8 from seven), then allrounder Aaron Hardie (19.3 from seven).

The biggest concern for Australia leading into a tournament they last won in 2009 is the productivity of opener Matthew Short (145 runs at 18.12 from eight innings) and Jake Fraser-McGurk (47 runs at 9.40 from five) against the new ball.

With Head inked in to open in the Champions Trophy, the debate is likely to focus on who might partner him between Short, Fraser McGurk or possibly Inglis if the selectors then want to place Labuschagne and Carey (as a specialist batter) in the middle-order.

"He's obviously a very aggressive player," Smith said when asked about Fraser-McGurk who has scored almost 25 per cent more runs (98) than he's survived deliveries (74) in his seven ODIs to date.

"He's got all the shots around the ground and I think it's just picking them to play at the right time.

"He hasn't quite got going here, but he played a couple of nice shots out there and we know the talent he possesses.

"That's why he's in this squad, he's dangerous.

"I think the wickets in Pakistan potentially suit him, so he's going to learn a lot just being around the group and continuing to work with all of us and the coaches and just talking about the game.

"Marnus has done well under pressure so I'm sure he's going to be spoken about for that first one-dayer in Pakistan."

When it comes to the bowling, Australia faces the daunting task of finding replacements for first-choice quicks Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood as well as the seam-bowling all-round skills of Marsh and Stoinis virtually overnight.

Of the pace-bowling outfit named for the Champions Trophy, only Hardie (nine) and Sean Abbott (seven) have played more than a couple of ODIs in the past six months.

Smith called upon seven bowlers yesterday, four of them spinners including batting allrounders Short and Glenn Maxwell.

But he's confident the steep learning they all underwent against Sri Lanka's batters in their home conditions will hold them in good stead for Pakistan.

"I thought some of the guys that have had an opportunity in the last two games have bowled really nicely." Smith said.

"They've all got their own unique set of skills, and I think for me captaining them is just about communicating with them and trying to get the right option out of them at the right time.

"They all do it differently – Ben Dwarshuis and Spencer (Johnson) up top trying to swing the ball back down the line, Sean (Abbott) hits a really good length, Nathan Ellis has terrific change-ups and we've got a couple of spinners as well.

"(Adam) Zampa and Tanveer (Sangha) have good skills set, along with Maxwell, Short and Head.

"We've got plenty of part-time options, so we've got the bases covered and the guys are looking forward to getting to Pakistan and competing in another big event."

The only heavier defeats Australia has suffered in ODI cricket before yesterday were a 242-run defeat to England at Trent Bridge in 2018, a 206-run loss to New Zealand at Adelaide in 1986 and the 2006 loss to South Africa at Cape Town by 196 runs.

Smith also noted the games in Colombo were effectively a pair of warm-up fixtures ahead of a major ICC tournament, with the fact his team had played no 50-over cricket in the prior two months providing further atypical context.

While not denying Australia had been soundly beaten in all facets by Sri Lanka, the reality was they changed virtually half their line-up from the first match to the second in a bid to give match time to all members of the 15-man squad plus travelling reserve Cooper Connolly.

And given the Australia men's team's record in major ICC events – they currently hold the World Test Championship mace as well as the one-day World Cup – he expects a vastly improved showing when the Champions Trophy gets underway next week.

"We were certainly trying a few different things," he said after his team were bowled out for their lowest ODI score in Sri Lanka.

"You don't see an Australian team making five changes day-in, day-out.

"It was about everyone having an opportunity to get some time in the middle.

"We haven't played 50-over cricket for a little while and we're just getting back to the rhythm of it.

"It doesn't mean we performed well out there – we got outplayed by Sri Lanka and they played really well.

"But hopefully we can take something from it, move forward and have a good tournament in Pakistan."

2025 ICC Men's Champions Trophy

Australia's Group B fixtures

February 22: Australia v England, Lahore (8pm AEDT)

February 25: Australia v South Africa, Rawalpindi (8pm AEDT)

February 28: Afghanistan v Australia, Lahore (8pm AEDT)

March 4: Semi-final 1, Dubai (8pm AEDT)

March 5: Semi-final 2, Lahore (8pm AEDT)

March 9: Final, Lahore or Dubai (8pm AEDT)

Australia squad: Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Spencer Johnson, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Matt Short, Steve Smith, Adam Zampa. Travelling reserve: Cooper Connolly

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