Australian batsmen worse off than their Bangladeshi counterparts?

Is he the lone ranger in the Australian batting camp?

If you can’t bat you can’t win. It’s one of the oldest sayings in cricket but it’s also one of the game’s ultimate truth.

And after the dire displays at Lord’s, a lot of England cricket fans are saying the same thing. Australia cannot bat.

It was evident how far a once great nation has fallen behind when the crowd sung at the end of the second Test: “Are you Bangladesh in disguise.”

Coming into the series, every eye was on Michael Clarke to score the bulk of the Aussies’ runs after averaging over 100 in Tests in 2012 since he began his reign as captain. But so far, he has failed to replicate his Bradman-esque form.

Out of the top seven that played at Lord’s, Clarke’s 51 was the sixth highest total scored by a batsman. This is from a batsman who has played so well at Lord’s in the past with a 91 and a magnificent 136 to his name when he played the old enemy.

Maybe it’s the lack of match practise or the stress of captaincy has finally got to him, or maybe a big score is just an innings away before the old Clarke is back. But the fact is when Clarke doesn’t fire, the Australian batting looks as fragile as a autumn leaf.

Shane Watson is the epitome of wasted talent. A powerful assualter of opening bowling when in full flow but once the ball has lost it’s lacquer, he’s a wicket waiting to happen. His 31% of LBW wickets is the highest of any opening batsman in cricket history and at the age of 32, it’ll be very hard to change his technique.

What’s worse for Watson is that he appears to be the lightning rod for all the problems Australia have suffered in terms of PR. The list includes, sent home during ‘homework gate’, being called a cancer by sacked coach Mickey Arthur, wasting a plum DRS review for (guess) an LBW that cost Chris Rogers his wicket soon after and being sent offensive tweets by Steven Warner.

The dark clouds surrounding Watson must suggest there is a deep sense of distrust between him and the majority of the Australian public and squad. It’s one thing to drop a player for bad form but if a player attracts this much criticism from so many sources, you know he is capable of polarising the dressing room.

Speaking of Rogers, this series has shown just what he is. A stop-gap opener who isn’t quite cut out for Test cricket. For someone who had just one Test cap to his name at the age of 35 to suddenly be thrown into the deep end of opening in an Ashes series was maybe a bridge too far to cross.

He tries his hardest but the superior bowling talents of Anderson and Swann have cruelly exploited his flaws. He’ll probably last the remaining three Tests but will be lucky to play in Australia in the corresponding Ashes.