Daniel Cherny: What will the fallout be from Australia’s batting collapse in Cairns?

But nor should it be swept under the rug. The 98-run loss to the Proteas at Cazaly’s Stadium on Wednesday night – Australia’s heaviest one-day international defeat on home soil in terms of runs since 1991 – was a troubling glimpse into life without the bedrock of Steve Smith, who retired from the format following the Champions Trophy earlier this year.

While the Aussies are without Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins for this series, the batting is close to full strength given Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Josh Inglis and Alex Carey (now playing as a specialist batter) — all of whom have performed well for Australia in ODIs over the past 18 months — are available.

Doubtless selectors were keen to take a look at Mitch Owen in these matches after his impressive Twenty20 entrance in the West Indies, while Matt Short remains thereabouts too despite his troubling run with soft tissue injuries.

And it is not that Australia cannot succeed in one-day cricket without a significant impact from Smith. The former captain was steady rather than spectacular during the 2023 World Cup triumph, and made just four in the decider in Ahmedabad.

But Smith, as an outstanding player of spin — an outstanding player full stop — would have been an invaluable guardrail as Keshav Maharaj ran amok under the Cairns lights, taking five wickets as the Aussies lost 6-29 to all but end the contest, notwithstanding the subsequent resistance of Marsh and Ben Dwarshuis.

This was reminiscent of one of Australia’s many subcontinental implosions over the years, even featuring a familiar Carey sweeping misadventure.

It was a match to serve as a reminder that for all the conflation of white-ball formats, one-day cricket is a relatively long haul for many modern players, and the basic act of batting out your overs should not be undersold.

It would be absurd to draw a line through Marnus Labuschagne’s name for the Ashes on the back of a single 50-over match.

But having steeled himself mentally for another duel with the South African quicks, it was the left-arm craft of Maharaj that undid him for one.

Labuschagne gestured to himself that the ball was going over the stumps after being trapped on the back foot by the world-class tweaker, but his ensuring DRS call yielded only three red signals. It was the 14th time he had fallen to left-arm spin in ODIs.

The thing about Labuschagne’s Test rut, one which ended in his omission following the World Test Championship final, is that it coincided with a similar decline in one-day cricket.

With Smith no longer an option, Labuschagne’s importance in the one-day game has been amplified, a point Australian coach Andrew McDonald noted when asked about whether the Queenslander would return to Glamorgan following his Test axing.

But having fought fiercely to win back his spot ahead of and during the 2023 World Cup in which he served as an ideal foil for Head in the final against India, Labuschagne is averaging just 24 from 11 innings for Australia in the 50-over format.

The player who is stiffest not to be in this Australian squad is Labuschagne’s state teammate Matt Renshaw. It may surprise those who know him best as the stodgy young Test opener, but Renshaw’s one-day numbers over the past 12 months have been exceptional.

He was the second-leading run scorer in last season’s domestic one-day competition, averaging more than 50 at a strike rate of 114. He backed it up with a dominant 50-over series for Australia A against Sri Lanka A last month in Darwin, making scores of 80, 106 and 62.

While there will continue to be speculation about Tim David again turning his mind to the longer white-ball format, if Labuschagne doesn’t turn things around over the next couple of games, then Renshaw would be a more than reasonable replacement, albeit he is not in the same league as Labuschagne when it comes to ability in the field.

The A tour to India also shapes as a chance for generation next – including the prodigious Ollie Peake – to stake claims.

The man who is luckiest to be in this side is Aaron Hardie. The Aussies misread the wicket in Cairns on Wednesday, ending up relying heavily on the part-time work of Head with the ball, supplemented by Labuschagne in a match that was also noteworthy as Australia’s first ODI since Glenn Maxwell gave up the format, denying the Aussies an important spin option.

So the fast-medium Hardie only bowled two overs, going for 20. That would not be as much of an issue if the West Australian looked anywhere near the level with the willow. Alas that is not the case. Two years ago Aussie selectors thought so much of Hardie’s three-format potential that they blocked him from playing England’s Hundred competition to keep him fresh for national duties.

Hardie has three first-class centuries and still averages more than 38 with the bat in that format. But he has a highest score of 44 in 22 international innings and just cannot land a foothold playing for Australia despite plenty of opportunities.