Former Australia pace ace predicts 3-2 scoreline in favour of hosts; there will be no drawn games in the five-Test series Down Under, he says
Mohammed Siraj hugs Rishabh Pant to celebrate India’s series victory over Australia at The Gabba in Brisbane on January 19, 2021. Pic/Getty Images
Former Australia fast bowler Geoff Lawson, 66, reckons the forthcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy series Down Under could turn out to be, “the best Test series of the 21st century.” For the first time in the 77-year India v Australia Test rivalry, the Indians will travel to Australia buoyed by the fact that they have won the last two Test series there.
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Lawson, who was flown in as a replacement for injured pacer Alan Hurst on the 1979-80 tour of India without playing a Test against Sunil Gavaskar & Co, figured in 10 one-day internationals against India. He coached Pakistan for 15 months and was head coach of Kochi Tuskers in the 2012 edition of the Indian Premier League.
Edited excerpts from an interview with the Sydney-based Lawson, who claimed 180 wickets in 46 Tests from 1980 to 1989:
If you were asked to predict a series-ending scoreline, what would it be?
The two teams are very evenly matched across all facets and India have the recent Down Under-winning experiences to mentally fall back on if they are under pressure. Picking a winner is fraught with all sorts of peril which is exactly how the fans want this series to unfold. I’m very uncertainly going for an Australian win 3-2. With a hot dry Australian summer predicted, I can’t see there being any draws as these two teams have an attacking penchant and the players to deliver quick runs and batting collapses. This could be the best Test series of the 21st century so far and will remind us of how Test cricket is the premium form of the game.
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New South Wales coach Geoff Lawson at a training session before their Sheffield Shield match against South Australia at the Adelaide Oval on November 11, 2014. Pic/Getty Images
Will the previous two series losses to India on Australian soil make Australia more determined for the 2024-25 series?
Australian teams in any sport need little provocation to play at their ‘determined best’. The hallmark of an Australian cricketer has often been painted as their doggedness and failure to never give in — it’s not over until it’s over to quote the famous New York Yankee catcher, Yogi Berra.
A succession of Australian captains have brought their own variations on a theme to this psyche but the essence is pure. Pat Cummins may smile a lot but his competitiveness is ingrained and powerful. Having hinted at a never faltering mindset, some Australian players have been quoted as having unfinished business. The Border-Gavaskar Trophy has been loaned to the BCCI for a decade, it’s time to get it back on the trophy shelves in Jolimont [Cricket Australia’s headquarters in Victoria]. Australia may hold the World Test Championship but without a home series win against India, the crown sits unsteadily.
India’s most striking result from their last two antipodean sojourns was the stunning win in Brisbane, a field on which Australia had not lost for 34 years and then only to one of the great West Indian combinations. The Australian players may publicly discount that loss as an aberration but the subconscious will be wide awake to the reality of the vulnerability on hard bouncy pitches.
Both sides have the combative attitude that propels them toward challenges rather than to seek excuses. Australia will be seeking to avenge the previous losses but their approach will be carefully planned and considered rather than emotionally driven.
Is India v Australia THE competition in Test cricket?
There is a cogent argument that points to India and Australia being the best performed Test teams in world cricket. India have gone from being completely unable to win away from home to being super competitive on all surfaces, at all venues. The reliance of spin in helpful conditions still applies but the advent of quality fast bowling and the ability of the batsmen to combat pace and bounce has turned the tables. The two previous series wins in Australia illustrate perfectly the case in point. The BCCI needs a pat on the back for building new stadia with high-class pitches, surfaces that encourage pace as much as spin. Dennis Lillee’s work at the MRF Pace Foundation has been a cornerstone of the fast bowling revolution and as Glenn McGrath continues that program, Australia can take some credit for the coup. The IPL has brought the world’s best quicks to India and Indian batsmen have learned to face true speed — even though it’s only over four-over spells, the lessons are viable. Confidence against fast bowling is a useful commodity in Australia and this series will be no different. Starc, Cummins, Hazlewood are as good a trio that has ever graced the international stage and along with the record-breaking Nathan Lyon, they ensure that Australia are always in a contest no matter how many runs are made. Having said that, the home team’s vulnerability has been shown up by India who also come with outstanding fast and slow bowling. The current World Test Championship table has India at the top closely followed by current champs Australia, which is a good indication of the world order. So it’s 1 v 2 on 2’s home turf over five Tests. This clash has the prospect of being one of the most delicious series for 20 years!
India play two Test series at home before coming to Australia (Bangladesh and NZ) while Australia don’t have any Test engagements before the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. How do you view this build-up/preparation for both teams?
India will have some Test cricket to harden up, get their top 12 or 13 sorted and maybe find some Test match tempo before they head Down Under. Bangladesh won’t pose the same challenges that Australia will bring so that may not be of great use but New Zealand have some confronting pace and canny spin plus a competitive mindset. The Kiwis will be chasing some Test Championship points as well so India can expect a tough outing that could prove beneficial come Perth in late November. In contrast, the Australian players will have to make the most of their Sheffield Shield appearances to sharpen up. The national players will be available for four matches leading into the first Test. Whether they play all four will be up to the national selectors and coach Andrew McDonald. The attack of Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood and Lyon all play for New South Wales and it is unlikely they will all turn out at the same time and there is almost zero chance that all four will play all four matches. The selectors will be keen to make sure that they are fresh when the series starts. Captain Cummins has already decided not to play the ODI series in the UK with England and Scotland, preferring to train and recharge with his state teammates. So the build-up to the five-Test series is quite varied for the two teams — the proof in the preparation pudding-eating will be borne out over the breadth of eight weeks of intense, elite contests. It is only fair to the players and fans that the two best teams play a proper Test series of five. The Ashes are generally the yardstick by which Australian teams are measured. This summer there is no doubt that the Border–Gavaskar will rival that historical battle.
Will Virat Kohli be the biggest Indian draw card again?
Virat Kohli will play the faux villain to Jasprit Bumrah’s likeable nature. Bumrah has the fast bowlers privilege of [spending] half a life at fine leg which gives him the ideal chance to interact with the crowd, winning smiles and hearts while Kohli will lurk in the infield appealing vociferously, fielding magnificently and engaging verbally with any Australian player so inclined to conversation, and there will be one or two of those.
Aussie crowds love a competitor like Kohli, they may give him some grief if he plays the antagonist but you can guarantee that if he makes 50s and 100s he will be loudly applauded by the fans. He has shown a liking for Australian conditions ever since his first tour 13 years ago. Bounce and pace suited his two-footed game but the question in 2024 is whether he still has the razor sharpness to best Australia’s attack on their home surfaces. I wouldn’t count him out.
How would Bumrah be described in GF Lawson’s dictionary?
Jasprit Bumrah: A cross between C3P0 and the Transformer Optimus Prime. You’ve just gotta love his broad smile, never-ending energy and the seamless transition from his yorker to his bouncer. There are no ‘tells‘, no queues from his action to alert batsmen to the change of length or seam position. The brevity of his run-up does not give time to settle into the normal batting rhythm of tap, tap, tap, then fix a stare at the ball in hand. The challenge for Bumrah, or any fast bowler in Australia, is getting the most out of the Kookaburra Turf ball. If the pitches are hard and dry (which they are most of the time but recently some juicy strips have been served up that has made seam bowling a true delight), he will get reverse swing going sooner rather than later. Seam bowling the key to being successful in Australia, is definitely your older ball skills and reverse swing is a significant part of that. The challenge for Bumrah and probably all of the bowlers is how the body is managed across a five-Test series. If he can be used in shorter spells with plenty of overs from the spinners then come the closing couple of Tests, he may well be the deciding factor. The Australian crowds are more likely to see him as a respected and loved opponent rather than a baddie to be booed, much as they did with the great West Indian fast bowlers who visited Australia in the 1980s.
With no David Warner in the line-up against India this time, will Australia be severely handicapped?
The Warner retirement has presented the Australia selectors with a conundrum. Warner’s form and run production had been falling for a number of years and his time at the top of Test cricket had finished. His record of run volume and velocity of scoring made him a true great of the game, there is no question of that. The challenge of replacing Warner has been circuitous, promoting one of the great upper middle-order batsmen of all time to the opening spot. This had the short term purpose of finding an opener to replace Warner and the medium to long term purpose of allowing Cameron Green back into the starting XI. I’m not sure what Green was ever doing out of the team as his all-round abilities are invaluable. The jury on the Smith relocation is still out but the majority verdict is hanging on “not working as prescribed.” Warner at his peak could intimidate new ball bowlers, sending them searching for alternative line and lengths, pushing them to safer and less penetrating areas on the pitch. That skill cannot be underappreciated but is very difficult to replace. The opener most in form in Australian domestic cricket has been Cameron Bancroft but the national team management don’t see him as the Warner replacement. Bancroft to a more orthodox new ball blunter, a good leaver of the ball, content to defend and occupy the crease, counter attacking only when the ball is in his hitting areas and ultimately letting his partners up the scoring rate. The naked fact for Australia is that there is no ‘like for like’ replacement of Warner.
Steve Smith is an elite number 4, maybe that’s where he needs to be to combat Bumrah, Siraj et al. Any team without an in-form David Warner is handicapped but so was every team without Tendulkar, Gavaskar, Border or Bradman.
Where should Steve Smith bat in the order?
The Smith experiment is bubbling along in the test tube but the mad scientists are starting to rub their chins and furrow their brows. The original hypothesis was flawed to begin with – fancy moving the most successful number 4 in the history of Australian cricket to the top 2 just to accommodate an all rounder! A golden rule of thumb in professional sport (and probably life) is, “don’t weaken a strength in order to strengthen a weakness“ and that is exactly what the Australian selectors have done. I don’t expect Smith to open the batting in this series.
2,042
No. of runs scored by Virat Kohli in 25 Tests against Australia
Last five Border- Gavaskar series
2014-15
(In Australia): Australia won 2-0
2016-17
(In India): India won 2-1
2018-19
(In Australia): India won 2-1
2020-21
(In Australia): India won 2-1
2022-23
(In India): India won 2-1
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