Our batting collapses are mental, says Graeme Hick

Graeme Hick believes that the Australian side has identified the problem with their batting collapse and thinks the problem is more mental over the technical flaws. Highlighting Australia’s recent tendency to give away games from a position of relative strength, Hick said that the players on the side have the ability to perform but it is their state of mind that is playing a problem.

He stated, “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.”

“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. 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."

Recent history is replete with such occasions when the Australian side went on to be beaten from a dominating match-winning position. It happened in Colombo last year, in Perth next, in Dharamshala Test against India during the four-match Test series, and most recently, in Dhaka as they lost the opening Test to Bangladesh.

Australia have always been aggressive in their batting but Hick feels sometimes they have to take time before getting into the natural game. He said, “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.”

Hick is not the first person to admit the problem as coach David Saker also stressed on the side’s ongoing loss of confidence that has stemmed from the series of losses away from home. Despite Ben Stokes’ likely absence from the Ashes series next month, England possess a strong enough bowling side that can prove lethal to Australia’s struggling batting line-up.

And Hick has asked his players to rectify their problems before they welcome England next month. “There’s no hiding from it and we’re certainly going to try and start making amends. Especially with the Ashes coming up, we certainly don’t want to be losing wickets in clumps,” he said.