It is outright surreal to see an Australian cricket team with such a defeatist mindset

It is business as usual between India and England, with the home team on top in the eastern coastal city of Visakhapatnam. But Down Under, Australian cricket is reeling in the wake of its loss to South Africa in the second Test, in Hobart.

If the chaos during the four-day ordeal was not enough for the hosts, what has ensued has added to their woes. Far from being – and resembling – a dominant team in the cricketing scene, Australia is now cowering and looks to be at the edge of the precipice of disarray. Rod Marsh, their selection chairman, stepped down from his position as if trying to shoulder blame for the defeat, and the ones that came before it under his chairmanship.

Lacklustre leadership

“This is my own decision and no one within Cricket Australia has pressured me or even suggested that I should do this. Clearly, though, it is time for some fresh thinking, just as it is for our Test team to welcome some new faces as we build for the future. I wish the captain, coach and the team all the best going forward. We will be great again,” summed up Marsh his decision to walk away as the chair of the Australian selection panel.

The captain, Steve Smith’s tonality was equally dejected and tragic as he sat down for his post-match presser in Hobart. “I am embarrassed to be sitting here to be perfectly honest with you,” he began, before admitting further, “We are not being resilient, we are not willing to tough it out and get through tough periods and the longer you spend out there, things get easier. But, the boys have got to start being a bit tougher and getting in a grind and getting in a contest and try to build a few partnerships because right now it is not good enough.”

What does the future entail?

Coming from any other team management and any other emotionally-scoured team captain, it is a measure that can be contemplated. But, from Australia, it is an attitude so defeatist that there does not seem to be any previous narrations to draw parallels from.

Known for extricating themselves out of the toughest possible situations, even if it meant getting down and dirty, as seen on numerous occasions before, the aura of diffidence surrounding the team is not only new, it is outright surreal. The team wants to get its bearings right, but does not know where to turn to or whom to turn to sort itself out.

The audaciousness and spontaneity that accounted for the team’s successes in the past are missing. But more than that, neither the team members nor the coach Darren Lehmann, whose appointment itself was a gamble when taken less than a fortnight before the 2013 Ashes series, know how to get these qualities back.

The Greg Chappell conundrum

In the next few days, the quagmire surrounding Australian cricket only looks to widen given the nature of one of its recent appointments in the aftermath of the Hobart Test. Following Marsh’s resignation, Trevor Hohns has been named as the new chairman of the selection committee and while there are no doubts about Hohns’s calibre, the same cannot be said for the reinstating of Greg Chappell, who has had quite a few controversies dotting his managerial roles. Not only at home, in Australia but abroad as well, like his two-year stint as the Indian national team’s coach that ended with the Indian morale being totally shattered.

Albeit his appointment is on a short-term basis, as Cricket Australia takes the necessary steps it deems to propel the team’s fortunes around, looking toward to Chappell to lift the team from its misery is not the most conducive or viable step. The former captain never has been able to get the best of players and tends to add volatility, even when there is none present. His short-term appointment thus could do more harm than good for the team’s already sunken spirits. Especially with one last match to be played out before their ordeal can officially end.

With nothing more than pride to play for at the Adelaide Oval, in less than a week’s time, the least the players can do is play with an outward semblance of fortitude even if their performances reflect contrarily. Who knows, in trying to seek their lost confidence, they could instil new set of values. Those that will make them stronger and lot better as opponents, than before.