‘Unacceptable’: Aussies slammed for body language in field as McDonald defends missing bowling coach

Former Australian bowler Damien Fleming said on SEN the home side were finding themselves on the end of an “absolute thrashing”.

The Australian coach was also asked about the absence of Vettori, who is overseas about to take part in the IPL auction as head coach of Sunrisers Hyderabad, and whether his presence would have made a difference.

CA’s national development coach Lachlan Stevens is in Perth as extra support for the team.

“He [Vettori] is still connected with us. A lot of pre-planning, prep work gone in. The answer is no [it didn’t make a difference], he’s got some commitments elsewhere,” McDonald said.

“I think the wicket’s changed considerably. The seam and swing was down compared to yesterday. I thought KL and Jaiswal played extremely well.

“The morale is always good. It’s a pretty level team. We’ve got some problems to solve. There’s no doubt we’re clearly well behind the game at this stage. India are in the driver’s seat.”

Jaiswal and Rahul showed excellent application, having come off respective scores of zero and 26 in the first innings.

Jaiswal, who has shown great promise in his short career, grew with confidence every over as Australia’s quicks failed to make inroads with the new ball. So too did part-timer Marnus Labuschagne, who resorted to sending down bouncers at speeds of up to 135km/h.

Had Australia’s top order given a better account of themselves on Friday night, the home side could have taken a first-innings advantage but will now be chasing a game that slowed down significantly once players adjusted to the bouncy Perth surface.

It was only the sixth time an Indian opening batting pair has produced a triple-figure partnership against Australia in Australia. The record stands at 191 from Sunil Gavaskar and Kris Srikkanth in 1986.

In terms of all touring teams, not since Andrew Strauss and Alistair Cook in 2010 at the Gabba (188 runs) has an opening pair contributed more for the first wicket.

Earlier, India captain Jasprit Bumrah took the prized wicket of Alex Carey with his first ball of the day, but a rearguard 10th-wicket partnership between Starc and Hazlewood frustrated the tourists’ attempts to clean up Australia’s tail.

Australia avoided further humiliation by going past their lowest total against India (83 in 1981) and bringing up triple figures, to the relief of the local crowd hoping this match continues until at least the end of the weekend.

In home Tests, Australia have been bowled out for fewer than 104 runs on just 11 occasions. The last time that happened was in 2016, when Australia were skittled for 85 in Hobart.

Bumrah, who took four wickets on Friday during a scintillating pace-bowling performance, struck immediately by removing Carey for 21, caught behind by wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant.

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It was a delivery at which Carey did not need to play, but his score was nearly double that of Australia’s next best in Travis Head (11). The tentative shot indicated that Carey was more worried about the bowler and not playing it on its merits.

The dismissal brought up Bumrah’s second five-wicket haul or better against Australia, having taken 6-33 in the 2018 Boxing Day Test.

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