Australian batsmen practice without the front pad to tackle Bangladeshi spinners

Australia are set to play 2 Tests in Bangladesh starting this Sunday, one each in Dhaka and Chittagong. Some unique pictures emerged from Australia’s net sessions where the batsmen were seen practicing without the front pad.

It’s a genuine effort made by them to counter the Bangladeshi spinners. The pitches are expected to be spin-friendly and the Australians haven’t had a great history playing on turning tracks. They recently lost in India and were whitewashed by Sri Lanka a few months back.

Bangladesh would want to test them once again on such surfaces as they also possess quality spinners amongst the ranks. The Australians would try and avoid getting hit on the pad to counter the LBWs and hence the tactic to practice without the front pad could come in handy.

We have done this before: Maxwell

Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell who played a couple of Tests earlier this year in India talked about how they used the tactic a few years back and how it will help again.

“It’s probably something we did back in 2012 when ‘JL’ (Langer) was the batting coach,” the middle-order batsman told reporters at Sher-e Bangla National Stadium on Wednesday.

“We did it a little in the nets when we were in Dubai (for Australia’s pre-India tour camp earlier this year). I think the main thing is to basically use your bat: if you don’t have the safety of your front pad there it makes you get your leg out of the way and actually use your bat,” he added.

“It’s more about refining your defense and making sure you’re trusting the fact you’ll hit the ball and not hoping that your pad’s there just to save you. It’s more for the (spinners) that are hitting the stumps repeatedly and Bangladesh do that really well. They bowl the ball stump-to-stump and they put pressure on your defense,” he said.

“That’s one thing that we have worked on and will continue to work on. I’ve done a fair bit of it, I did a lot of it back home, a lot of my practice revolves around defense and expanding from there,” concluded Maxwell.