Ian Healy slams Australian batting coach says side's batting has ‘regressed'
Although Australia managed to win the first Test in Barbados, their batting is still a concern. In the first innings of the Test match, Australia only managed to get to 180 runs. Former Australian wicket-keeper Ian Healy took a dig at the Aussie batting coach Michael Di Venuto.
'I love to put it back onto the players more than coaches usually. But, as I said, Australian cricket's batting head coach – and every state batting coach – should be under pressure because there's not enough runs being scored around the nation either,' Healy said on SEN.
'Michael Di Venuto – a friend of mine who is a good coach and a good man – has held the job since mid-2021. In this time, our national team batting has regressed in performance at the Test level,' Healy added.
Apart from that, he also questions Cameron Green's new role at number three in the side. After returning from a long-term injury, Green got promoted to three in the Australian batting order.
'All that's important to me is the performance. 'I don't care how you do it or what will make it easier for you – just get it done. They're not making it easy for themselves at all, players have got to deal better with nerves by the sound of it,' said Healy.
'They need to create sound techniques and bat with balance so you can make really sound decisions ball after ball for long periods. At the moment, we're failing many of these points, and the lower order is having to deal with it – either recovering the score or losing. It's just too hard at the moment, we've got to clear those minds of our top order,' he added.
Australia beat West Indies by 159 runs and took a 1-0 lead in the three-match Test series. The second Test will be played at Grenada.
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