From world champions to England’s bunnies: Australia’s ODI slide continues
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With England teetering on 8-114 at Old Trafford, it looked, for a moment at least, as though Australia may avoid the ignominy of a 5-0 series defeat.
Even despite having posted just 205 themselves off 34.4 overs.
A few flashes of Jos Buttler's blade later and England had served the tourists a final humiliation to underline the general calamity of the tour.
Just 11 months out from the next World Cup, also to be played in England, a defence of Australia's 2015 title looks severely compromised.
In a year where off the field issues have sent Australian cricket into dark introspection and self-recrimination, the return to focus on the actual cricket has offered little in the way of respite.
The mitigating factors in Australia's first ever ODI series whitewash loss to England are, of course, many.
Though some entirely self-inflicted.
The fallout from the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa saw Australia travel to England without two batsmen responsible for the accumulation of 30 per cent of their ODI runs since the last World Cup.
Any side seeking to fill David Warner and Steve Smith-shaped holes in their batting line-up is bound to suffer.
Likewise, Australia's attacking trident of Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins was denied captain Tim Paine.
It is seductive to believe that once all five men are restored to the starting line-up, a better showing will naturally follow.
This is, however, without guarantee. And cannot be relied upon to be an instant panacea.
What impact a year on the sidelines will have on both the mental and technical robustness of Warner and Smith remains an unknown.
And all three pace bowlers have a history of injury that means assuming all will be available together next winter is no foregone certainty.
What is clear is that a number of players thrust into key roles on this recent tour, admittedly under testing conditions, failed to press their own cases.
A recent history of decline
Even before the seismic impact of Durban, Australia's ODI showings were already less than encouraging.
The side's win ratio since winning the 2015 World Cup is now well below 50 per cent.
The past 18 months has been even less productive. In their past 19 matches Australia have won just three.
The team has slipped to a 34-year low of sixth in the world.
In the wake of the 5-0 loss, Paine is reportedly considering his future as captain of the one-day side.
Thrust into the unlikely role of leading Australia out of arguably the darkest period of its recent history, Paine has been a more than equal to the task of diplomacy demanded of him.
His insistence on pre-series handshakes and openness in answering a never-ending stream of questions over Australian team culture has gone some way towards rebuilding a tarnished collective reputation.
However, his average of just 7.20 across the five matches has been a less convincing showing.
Another wicketkeeper, Alex Carney, outperformed him with the bat in the two matches he was given.
Splitting the captaincy between Test and ODIs is one likely outcome going forward.
Offering Aaron Finch — already the T20 skipper — the job would at least ensure that questions over the captain's legitimacy in terms of performance would be avoided.
If you can't beat them, join them?
It is just one of many issues Justin Langer has to grapple with between now and next May.
External Link: Jos Buttler: tweet
Langer is new to the role himself and 12 months of his fresh leadership ahead offers opportunity for him to forge a new identity in the side.
That process will demand both a clear thought process towards selection as well as a need to bring Australia up to speed in a rapidly evolving format of the game that appears to have bypassed them to a degree of late.
Australia have been guilty of adherence to an approach that values protection in the middle overs of a match, keeping wickets in hand for a late assault, but often at the expense of run rate.
Compared to the newly swashbuckling English this seems slightly dated, even if it was successful at the last World Cup. The idea that 350 is an easily defendable total when England flirted with posting 500 at Trent Bridge looks misguided.
Since the last World Cup final Australia have used 42 different players, a situation aggravated by injuries and suspensions but also the retirement of key players in the form of Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Shane Watson and Mitchell Johnson.
On this tour it was not just a change of personnel that suggested a lack of cohesive thought but the constant moving up and down the order of key batsmen.
Finch, a fine opener, had a spell in the middle to try and shore up deficiencies elsewhere when facing spin (something ruthlessly exposed by Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali, the latter hardly a consistent threat during the recent Ashes series in Australia).
D'Arcy Short, so explosive in the Big Bash, was at differing times asked to produce fireworks at the top of the order and solidity lower down.
Settling on a definitive position for Finch and, to a lesser degree, Short would not only give certainty to those individuals, but also allow for effective planning in filling the spots around them, something that needs to be done well in advance of the next long-haul flight to the UK.
Send for reinforcements
Of those who suffered an uncomfortable audition on this tour, only Billy Stanlake, Ashton Agar and, to a limited degree, Travis Head, distinguished themselves.
Stanlake was a wicket threat due to raw pace and bounce, though would need to tighten up his lengths for English conditions if he is to prosper next winter.
Shaun Marsh confirmed he is in the form of his life with two centuries in losing causes but there appears to be an expectation that the nucleus of a competitive side at the next World Cup was elsewhere this past month.
"We know we are a long way off the mark at the moment but the World Cup is not for 12 months and we know when we get our best team on the park, playing our best cricket, we are going to be right in the thick of it," Paine said.
But the "when" still remains an "if" to a certain degree.
The absentees are already inked onto the team sheet for next year despite no meaningful white-ball cricket in the past six months and, in some cases, none allowed until the early months of next year.
On a weekend without the distraction of the World Cup, State of Origin football and a Wallabies Test, the humbling in England may have garnered greater attention.
But three years on from Australia's last World Cup win, they have been thrashed by a side who failed to get out of the group stage in that tournament.
England's focus on a home World Cup has seen an overhaul in how they approach the game.
Australia now have less than a year to enact their own reinvention and avoid following up off-field embarrassment in South Africa with even more on the pitch in the home of their Ashes rivals.
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