The team’s performance was so
poor that they found themselves two-down in the Test series. But when players
were asked to write down three ways in which they could improve their
performance, the tour management’s over-reaction to four players not handing
in their “homework”, resulted in four of them being suspended from the next
Test.
Far from being ‘a line in the
sand’, insecurity and tensions in the dressing room grew and made the coach
even more remote from struggling players until he was sacked three months
later.
India
dominated the Test series apart from once when Australia’s first innings exceeded
400 at Mohali.There was constant poor
shot selection by the leading batsmen.
John Inverarity (national selector),Rodney Marsh,Andy Bichel.
Selection
Unavailable :Michael
Hussey (retired),Pat Cummins (lower
back stress injury); Michael Beer,Mitchell Marsh and Andrew McDonald (all
injured)
Test tour party announced:31 January 2013.
Not selected: Shane
Marsh,Ryan Harris, Ben Hilfenhaus,Trent Copeland,Steve O’Keefe.
Limited overs squads announced:
Time between selection and
departure from Australia
7 days
(31 January -6 February)
Travel
SydneyQChennai
Members of the Test squad flew to India in
three groups and only eleven of the seventeen-man squad had arrived by the
time of the first match. Jackson Bird, Ed Cowan, Moises Henriques, Usman
Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle and Steven Smith all
departed from Australia
and landed in Chennai on Thursday night, 7 February.A second group - Glenn Maxwell, Ashton Agar
and Matthew Wade - flew to India
on Saturday.
They were all in India
while the limited-overs series against West Indies
was still on, the better to prepare themselves for Indian conditions. Michael
Clarke, David Warner (injured thumb) and others who had played the one-day
international against West Indies flew out of Sydney on Monday 11 February.
Time spent on tour in India
days
(7 February - March)
On-tour
selection
Michael Clarke (captain),Mickey Arthur (coach), John Inverarity (on-tour selector)
After the
second Test, Rodney Marsh took over from Inverarity as the on-tour selector
Reinforcements
A C Agar
W
19
SLA
19 year-old Western Australia left-arm spinner Ashton Agar accompanied the squad in
a development capacity but was drafted into the team for the first tour match.
David Warner joined the team
late because of fracturing a thumb in net practice in Australia
before the tour.
B J Haddin
N
35
WK
Matthew Wade injured his ankle
playing basketball and only Philip Hughes was on tour as a wicket-keeping
substitute, so Brad Haddin was
flown in to cover for the third Test only.
Michael Clarke was ruled out of the final Test by a back
injury and flew home early, Shane Watson returning to India to lead the side in the fourth Test at Delhi
Fixtures/Results
a
ϯ Chennai (GN)
Indian Board President’s XI(2-day)
Drawn
b
Chennai (GN)
India A
Drawn
c
CHENNAI
(M)
INDIAFirst Test
LOST 8 w
d
HYDERABAD
INDIASecond Test
LOST inns 135 r
e
MOHALI
INDIAThird Test
LOST 6 w
f
DELHI
INDIAFourth Test
LOST 6 w
(GN) Guru Nanak
College Ground (M) MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk,
Chennai.
† not first-class
Time spent in India before First Test: 15 days
(7 February - 22 February)
Test
appearances on tour
4-Cowan,Hughes,Siddle,Warner,
3-Clarke,Henriques,LyonPattinson,Wade, Watson.
2-Doherty,Maxwell,Smith, Starc.
1-Haddin,Johnson
Highlights
•Adding 151 for the fifth wicket with Clarke
at Chennai, Moises Henriques (68) followed up in the 2nd innings with 81 not
out, meaning he hit fifties in each inngs of his debut Test.
•Fast bowler James Pattinson took 5-96 at Chennai
and Peter Siddle 5-71 at Mohali
•David Warner and Ed Cowan shared an opening
partnership of 139 at Mohali (Chandigarh),
after which Mitchell Starc scored 99, almost becoming the first Australian to
score a Test century at no 9 since 1948.
•Nathan Lyon took 7-94 at Delhi and two further wickets in the second
innings.
•Fast bowler Peter Siddle scored 50 and 51 in
the final Test.
Tour
Summary
P
W
L
D
Aban
Test Matches
4
0
4
0
-
Other first-class matches
1
0
0
1
-
ϯ Minor matches
1
0
0
1
-
§ One-day internationals
0
-
-
-
-
Twenty 20 matches
0
-
-
-
All Matches
6
0
4
2
-
Return
to Australia
DelhiQSydney
Ashton Agar’s developmental spell
with the team was extended. He returned to Australia after playing in the
two warm-up matches.
Jackson Bird returned to Melbourne early on 26
February to have scans to diagnose his back pain, which confirmed he would be
unable to rejoin the tour.
Shane Watson returned to Australia to
be present at the birth of his new son who was born on 14 March. He flew back
to Delhi on
18 March.
Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin
flew home from Delhi on 23 March, with a
stopover at Singapore,
arriving back at Sydney
Airport on the morning
of Sunday 24 March,