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Angry, embarrassed, frustrated, disappointed, upset, hurting. These were the words synonymous with Steven Smiths Australians in the aftermath of defeat to South Africa in Hobart. Another, resilient, is not.Smith cut a bewildered and downtrodden figure as he sorted through the wreckage of a humiliating fifth Test match defeat in succession, the national sides first innings loss at home since the fateful Ashes summer of 2010-11. Clearly angry with the performances of his players, he suggested it may be time for widespread personnel changes.I am embarrassed to be sitting here to be perfectly honest with you, Smith said. Too many times we have lost wickets in clumps, 8 for 30 today, 10 for 85 in the first innings, and you are not winning any games of cricket when are you doing that. And it is happening way too consistently for my liking.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, albeit the wicket was doing quite a bit and it was hard. 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.Asked directly about the tenure of the national team coach Darren Lehmann, who signed a contract extension in August to take him through to 2019, Smith was adamant in his support. I think hes been terrific over a long period of time, he said. Its not his fault were not playing well, its up to us to go out there and do the job. He does everything he can for us in training and preparation.We prepare well, its just at the moment when we get out in the middle were not executing our skills well enough and not handling the pressures of international cricket well enough. As a playing group that has to change, and from my point of view I have absolutely no problem with anything Darren is doing at the moment.Smith was less effusive in his words about the way the selection panel was operating, declining to answer the question of whether he was getting the teams he desired. Its obviously talked about and I do talk to the selectors quite a bit and in the end it is up to them to pick the team that they think best, he said. I have got to back their job and go out there and support our guys and do whatever we can to win cricket matches but obviously were not doing that and it is not working.With the knowledge that Australia are currently mired in the sort of slump that costs careers, Smith admitted that all manner of issues, from selection and schedules to the personnel in and around the team and at Cricket Australia would all be under heavy scrutiny.Yeah, it is not working, Smith said when asked if the time had come to rip up existing plans and start over. So, obviously on the back of five losses there is going to be a lot talked about in regards to selection and things like that. And weve got to start finding a way to turn things around.Whether the ball is seaming or spinning or swinging we dont have an answer at the moment. We are not resilient enough, we are not digging in enough, we are not having the pride in our wicket, were just not being resilient enough and something has got to change. We have got to play a lot better than we have been if we are going to beat any opposition around the world at the moment.Smith agreed that the present batting rut suggested the team had not earned the right to play with the sort of flair and aggression usually associated with Australian cricket. In conditions conducive to bowlers but far from impossible, he said that the players in the team had to think more keenly about their approach.I think that depends on conditions, if the wickets are flat and there is nothing happening fine you can play aggressively and positively, he said. But if there is anything in the wicket: spin, swing, seam, at the moment we are not adapting well enough, we are not willing to grind it out and spend enough time out in the middle to be positive.It comes down to that resilience and having a good defence, at the moment our defence is being challenged and it hasnt been good enough. You can play that positive brand once you get in and things get easier, but we have got to be willing to do the hard yards to be in a position where we can be positive and drive the game.Looking more widely around Australian cricket, Smith said he wanted to see more evidence of hungry batsmen in domestic cricket. Theres some guys there that are scoring some big runs on occasions and then probably not being as consistent as they would like to put their names up there, he said. Thats what I mean when I say no one is really jumping out of the pack and getting big hundreds or three hundreds in a row.At the moment what weve got going on is not working so it might be about getting some younger guys in and getting some experience at this level, you never know, guys might really step up to the plate and step up to the level of international cricket. Stars Jerseys 2021 . 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For the coming Test in Galle, on what promises to be a spinning minefield, Australia must seek the best way to combat the clever art of Rangana Herath and Co.The best way to play a quality spinner on a turner is to get to the other end. If both batsmen have this mindset, singles come at a canter, the scoreboard ticks over, and the bowler starts to worry. The great players of spin down the years - Don Bradman, Neil Harvey, Doug Walters, Garry Sobers, Brian Lara and VVS Laxman, to name a few - all knew the value of rotating the strike. When a batting pair rotates the strike, it soon creates great concern for the spinner. He starts to change his field: one or more of his close catchers are moved back to plug the gaps. When the singles come in a flood, the spinner also starts to lose patience. There are more loose balls on offer, and thus, a greater volume of boundaries.This Australian team as a batting collective is all at sea, especially against the wiles of Herath. They are not helping themselves. Joe Burns goes hard at the ball and often has his bat a long way in front of his pad when playing a forward-defensive shot. David Warner needs to be patient, and Usman Khawaja, who shapes not unlike Lara on a good, fast pitch with the ball coming on, needs to be tighter in defence against a good spinner. As with Burns, Khawajas bat is too far in front of his pad when he plays forward. Erapalli Prasanna, easily the best offspinner Ive seen, would have demolished this Australian team, even on a wicket that afforded only a hint of spin.Why? He got the ball to dip in an acute way. If a batsman misjudges the length of an acutely dipping ball, and his bat is in front of his pad, it is only a matter of time before he gets an inside edge, presenting a catch to a close-in fieldsman.There is a looseness in the manner in which most Australian batsmen go about their work. A spinner loves nothing more than a batsman coming down the wicket to hit him on the half-volley. If the batsman misjudges the length, hes liable to be caught or stumped. Bob Simpson, a splendid player of spin, used to say that when you move down the wicket to hit a spinner, try to get him on the full. That way, if you misjudge the length slightly, you can quickly adjust to hit the ball on the half-volley.In Pallekele, Steven Smith was the lone Australian batsman who looked competent at the crease. But his dismissal in the first innings, when he tried to hit on the half-volley, was a classic case of misreading the length. The likes of Adam Voges and Mitchell Marsh look decidedly uncomfortable on these slow Sri Lankan pitches that afford spin and variable bounce. One doesnt expect either to have much impact in Galle.In the short form of the game, especially T20, batsmen rely on huge bats to smite the ball. It is very much wham, bam stuff, with not a skerrick of footwork. Even in Test cricket these days rarely do we see a batsman advance to a spinner and ease the ball through a gap for two or three.Walters, a brilliant judge of length, oonce played a remarkable innings for Australia against Northern Districts in 1974, scoring a century in a session without hitting a boundary.dddddddddddd. He worked the ball into gaps and used his feet to drive through the covers or wide of mid-on. He didnt sweep once. Prasanna has long been convinced that the sweep or slog sweep are usually deployed by batsmen who dont use their feet well against spinners.Batting on slow, spinning wickets is not easy against a top-flight spinner, but it is not impossible. Certainly 21-year-old Kusal Mendis, with that masterful second-innings 176, found the supposed minefield in Pallekele very much to his liking.In effect, Australias batsmen need to embrace five points:Rotate the strike.Play with soft hands, and the bat not in front of the pad when playing forward defence.Use their feet to work the gaps.If they sweep or slog-sweep, do it sparingly.Be patient.A spinner knows what he likes and dislikes about the manner in which a batsman goes about his work. The batsman who rotates the strike, works the gaps, has soft hands and rarely slog-sweeps is an opponent very much up for the contest. A few years ago Herath was a member of my Spin Australia coaching clinic in Colombo. A solidly built little bloke, he wasnt a standout gifted spinner, but I liked the way he competed. He tended to bowl flat, and from the time it was suggested that he drive up and over his braced front foot, he improved out of sight. His stock ball is hard-spun, and if he bowls a flat delivery, he knows how to regain the desired just-above-the-eyeline loop by reaching up a little higher on his front foot at delivery. That enables him to stay for a split-second longer on his front foot, and helps him achieve maximum revolutions on the ball. How brilliantly Herath rewarded Sri Lanka in the wake of the selectors finally getting things right. In 71 Tests he has taken 313 wickets at a good average of 29.64.Steve OKeefes injury is a big blow to Australia, but Victorias Jon Holland, also a left-arm orthodox spinner, might prove a surprise packet in Galle. Holland will enjoy Smiths captaincy. Smith will get his fields right in Galle, and they will be a far cry from the Far Flung Chinese field Hollands Victoria captain Matthew Wade set for him in the Sheffield Shield final at Glenelg Oval a few months back.Despite the ludicrous field placings, Holland bowled splendidly then to help the Victorians to a deserved victory. As with OKeefe, he will nicely complement Nathan Lyons offspin. Lyon needs to take a leaf out of Heraths spin book and change his pace in a subtle way. Even on a big turner, change of pace is important to break the rhythm of the batsman.The Australian batsmen havent much time to develop a winning mindset. Theyll need to bat and bowl out of their skins to turn the tables on the Sri Lankans, but most likely the visitors are looking at a 3-0 whitewash. ' ' '