Aussie cricket great slams national batting coach after poor showing in West Indies during first Test - 'need to create sound techniques'
Australian cricket great Ian Healy has torched national batting coach Michael Di Venuto, adamant the top six has 'regressed' under his tutelage at Test level.
The West Indies' seam bowlers exposed the likes of Sam Konstas, Cameron Green and Josh Inglis in Barbados, with the Aussies having to lean on decorated pace trio Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazelwood to avoid a potential shock defeat at Kensington Oval.
It follows underwhelming scores of 212 and 207 in the World Test Championship final defeat at the hands of South Africa earlier this month at Lord's.
Australia dropped Marnus Labuschagne for Konstas, but the teenager has looked out of his depth at the crease.
Healy stressed he doesn't like to 'put the pump on coaches', but firmly believes the Aussies have gone backwards with the bat under Di Venuto.
'I love to put it back onto the players more than coaches usually,' Healy said on SEN.
'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.
'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 Test level.
'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.'
Healy added the Aussie Test stars look nervous and are not backing their techniques.
The scrappy performances leave fans understandably nervous ahead of the Ashes this summer.
'They're not making it easy for themselves at all, players have got to deal better with nerves by the sound of it,' Healy said.
'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.'
Healy has been outspoken in recent days, but was left red-faced after launching an astonishing attack on West Indies paceman Shamar Joseph, declaring the raw quick 'isn't Curtly Ambrose.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
32 minutes ago
- The Independent
British and Irish Lions vs Western Force live: Latest score and updates as tourists play first match in Australia
The British and Irish Lions face the Western Force in their first match on Australian soil in Perth as the tourists bid to bounce back from defeat to Argentina. Andy Farrell was left furious with his side's showing Dublin as they fell to a narrow loss against the Pumas, though there were signs of encouragement for the head coach as his squad continue to get up to speed. Farrell has rung the changes for this initial outing Down Under having been able to more fully integrate the Leinster contingent, and those involved in the Premiership final, after their delayed arrival into camp. It is the Western Force selection, however, that has generated more of the talking points this week, with the Lions accusing Wallabies boss Joe Schmidt of breaching the terms of the tour agreement but failing to release some of his Australia stars. There are, however, a few familiar faces on show for the Super Rugby Pacific side: scrum half Nic White is one of the game's great pests and controllers, while playmaker Ben Donaldson, a late call-up after injury struck Kurtley Beale, had a strong Super Rugby Pacific season. Lions vs Western Force live British and Irish Lions vs Western Force live The British and Irish Lions have landed in Australia and begin life Down Under with an intriguing meeting with the Western Force. It was a disappointing start for the tourists as the curtain came up on their summer with defeat to Argentina in Dublin, leaving Andy Farrell ticking - though there was plenty to encourage the Lions head coach, too. To Perth, then, for the first match of the tour proper. Kick off at Optus Stadium is at 11am BST. Harry Latham-Coyle27 June 2025 11:13
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Footy legend Brendan Fevola calls for drastic change at Carlton - 'the board is just there for themselves'
AFL legend Brendan Fevola has called for fresh faces at Carlton following the club's horror 50-point loss to Port Adelaide on Thursday night. The Blues faithful showed their anger after the Power belting, vandalising the club headquarters early on Friday morning in protest of another failed campaign. Fevola, much like the vandals, took aim at the board more so than under-siege coach Michael Voss. 'Something is wrong, something is going on, the board needs to go, I've been saying that for ages, the board is just there for themselves,' the Carlton Hall of Fame forward said on Fox FM's Fifi, Fev & Nick show. 'Get new people in; get old Carlton people in. 'Everyone is saying, 'Sack Vossy, Vossy needs to go', and I'm like, 'No, I don't think that's the go'. 'It gets to a point where you go, 'I don't think the players are playing for you, mate'. If you're playing for a coach, you don't put up what you put up in that first half. 'They're putting up nothing, they didn't kick a goal for the whole first half. 'They don't look like they've got a system; but they do have a system, they train and they train hard. They are just not performing.' Carlton were in second spot on the ladder in round 19 last year - but have won just seven times since. 'They have the players; if Vossy and the assistants were coaching West Coast, you'd go well, they just don't have the cattle,' Fevola said. 'Carlton were premiership favourites at the start of the year (and) they're not even going to play finals, their season is over. 'I (also) don't know what's wrong with Patrick Cripps. I would just put them all on ice and say you're done, get your body right for next year.' Fevola also took aim at out-of-contract ruckman Tom De Koning, who has been heavily linked to St Kilda on the AFL's most lucrative deal. 'The problem is they have Tom De Koning, who is in our top three players. He's been offered $12million to go to St Kilda and Carlton can't match that,' he said. 'If he's going, don't play him; say to him he needs to make a decision now and if he can't answer that, you're in the twos – get some young kid to play. 'If he doesn't want to stay, just be honest.' Voss' men need to win six of their remaining eight games to qualify for finals - but after a pedestrian performance against the Power, that is highly unlikely.
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
Captain Cummins backs youngster Konstas as Australia cruise to West Indies win
June 28 (Reuters) - Captain Pat Cummins backed inexperienced opener Sam Konstas to deliver on the international stage despite the youngster's struggles against the West Indies as Australia won the first test in Bridgetown by 159 runs on Friday. The highly-rated 19-year-old was out for three runs as the Australians made a slow start to the first innings and scored five in his second spell at the crease, but Cummins threw his support behind the Sydney-born right-hander. "One of the hard things about playing test cricket is you get thrown different conditions all the time," said Cummins. "You might not have the flying hours under your belt as a youngster coming in, so you've got to come in and work out your craft on the bigger stage. "The hardest thing when the pitch is doing a lot is getting out of your little bubble, trying to score and take good options, which is really hard in these conditions. You saw today how hard it can be to fire a few shots. "Sammy tried a few different options yesterday, not too many worked out. But (I have) full confidence." Both Konstas and Cameron Green, at number three, struggled but the Australians were set up for victory by the batting performances of Travis Head, Beau Webster and Alex Carey. The West Indies were left to chase a target of 301 to win but, with Josh Hazlewood producing a bowling masterclass to claim five wickets for 43 runs, the hosts were dismissed for 141 as the match ended with two days remaining. "The wicket was playing a lot of tricks," said Cummins. "I thought we might make decent in-roads, but I didn't think we'd get 10. Always nice to get a couple of days off. "I thought those three (Head, Webster and Carey) were brilliant. They kept the scoreboard ticking over. They took really good options and they were always looking to score. That was the difference. "We turned up today thinking that we wouldn't get a big lead, it was 50-50 really and those guys took the game away from West Indies. I thought all three of those were really impressive."
