- Ian Healy called out Michael Di Venuto
- Wants Australia’s top six batters to be firing
- Found wanting against the West Indies
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.
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, (pictured) Cameron Green and Josh Inglis in Barbados
‘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.’
Joseph responded with nine wickets in the first Test.
