Lehmann warns that change is in the air

Australia coach Darren Lehmann has put members of the world’s top-ranked Test team on notice that they are playing for their places after describing their efforts in the second Test against Sri Lanka as "not up to international standard".

Report & Highlights: Australia on the brink of series defeat

At the end of a day that saw 21 wickets tumble across three sessions – with 11 of those being Australian, many in meek fashion – Lehmann has foreshadowed personnel changes if the lessons of this series are not learned.

While the Warne-Muralidaran Trophy is all but safe in Sri Lanka’s hands, the third Test that begins in Colombo a week from today will give Lehmann and his fellow selectors Rod Marsh, Trevor Hohns and Mark Waugh a valuable steer for the next overseas Test assignment.

Which is a pivotal four-match series in India, a campaign to be fought out in similarly spin-friendly conditions against an even higher-ranked opponent.

And where Australia has won a single series in the past 47 years and not triumphed in a Test match in 10 attempts since that solitary success in 2004.

Lehmann conceded that the length and the intensity of his players’ preparation for this Qantas Tour of Sri Lanka could not be questioned, after selection chairman Rod Marsh also noted last week that the resources devoted to readying this squad for the challenges posed by subcontinental conditions could not be bettered.

And yet, having lost the first Test to number seven-ranked Sri Lanka and needing to bat for three full days to save the second match in Galle – or score an unprecedented 388 more runs with seven wickets remaining to win it – the world’s best Test team has been outplayed at almost every turn.

"Disappointing," Lehmann said when asked how he viewed a disastrous second day in Galle where Australia were bowled out for 106 in less than 40 overs and then lost three quick second-innings wickets in the half-hour before stumps as they remained clearly baffled by Sri Lanka’s spin.

"Not up to international standard, the way we played today.

"I can’t complain about the preparation from the lads, and the work ethic.

"But it gets down to the pressure in the middle in a Test match, and being able to cope with it and at the moment we haven’t.

"Certainly some blokes have got to have a look at themselves and how they want to go about it in these conditions and how they want to succeed.

"Obviously we’ve talked a good game in the media on how we want to play, but certainly we’re not showing up at the moment."

The only members of the squad who can claim a pass mark heading into the midway point of the three-Test series are fast bowler Mitchell Starc (with a remarkable 17 wickets at 13.47 on pitches not helpful to the quicks) and perhaps his new-ball partner Josh Hazlewood (seven wickets at 20.57).

Quick Single: Sizzling Starc a beacon of light for Australia

Spinners Nathan Lyon, Steve O’Keefe (until his untimely injury in the opening Test) and Jon Holland (a replacement for O’Keefe) have claimed 14 wickets between them but only left-armer O’Keefe managed to restrict Sri Lanka’s scoring below three runs per over.

And the batting has revealed a tale of woes, with skipper Steve Smith (who resumes on 1no later today) the only player to date to have posted a half-century in Australia’s three completed innings.

Prolific recent top-order scorers David Warner, Joe Burns, Usman Khawaja and Adam Voges are all averaging less than 25 (with Warner also unbeaten overnight and Voges yet to bat in the second innings at Galle).

Of those players, Burns – who began well in the second innings at Kandy but fell in the opening over of both innings in this Test – appears to be under the most scrutiny having scored just 34 runs at an average of 8.5 in two Tests.

With Shaun Marsh - who opened alongside Warner when recently retired veteran Chris Rogers was unavailable due to injury for both Tests in the West Indies last year - the only auxiliary batsman in the 15-man squad in Sri Lanka, the options for changes are minimal.

There is no additional specialist spinner, and the other members of the touring party – seamers Jackson Bird and Nathan Coulter-Nile along with allrounder Moises Henriques – are vying for roles that are least likely to require alternatives.

But Lehmann indicated that changes in personnel will be considered if members of the current XI are unable to find a means by which to survive and prosper on subcontinental pitches.

Quick Single: Herath too hot for Australia

With the selectors doubtless looking to settle the line-up they are likely to take to India in the new year during the upcoming Test series against South Africa and Pakistan over the Australian summer.

"We’ve got to make sure we get the players doing what they’re supposed to be doing, and if they’re not then we’ll have to find blokes who are going to," Lehmann said in a blunt message to his under-performing charges.

"Obviously we’ve talked a good game in the media (about) how we want to play (prior to this series starting), but certainly we’re not showing up at the moment.

"I can’t put my finger on it really, it’s up to the players to get out there and do that.

"We give them as much info as we can.

"They know what they want to do, it’s about having the belief to do it on the ground.

"That’s the thing about succeeding in Test match cricket, and especially here on the subcontinent."

Lehmann said he accepted his share of the blame, as is the lot for professional coaches when the players they mentor do not meet expectations.

And he also conceded that the scorecards and results ledgers confirm that the team he coached to a pair of heavy defeats in their previous Asian Test campaign (against Pakistan in the UAE two years ago) has not made many, if any, tangible improvements in the way they combat such foreign conditions.

Even though the current squad contained just six names – Smith, Warner, Lyon, Starc, Mitchell Marsh and O’Keefe (until injured) – from the touring party that lost to Pakistan by 221 runs and 356 runs in the only two Tests.

"Results would say we haven’t moved on,” he said.

"It’s pretty simple.

"From my point of view and from us as a group ... we’ve got to stop the rot.

"They know what they have to do.

"We’ve had lots of people who have played in the subcontinent help us out, successful players (including champion Sri Lanka spin bowler Muthiah Muralidaran, who worked as a consultant coach in the UAE and in Sri Lanka last month).

"It’s not as if they (the players) haven’t got the knowledge or the know-how to do it.

"It’s out on the ground, under the pressure."

Given Starc’s dominance with the new and old ball, and the fact that he has regularly made early inroads into Sri Lanka’s top three only to see their middle and lower-order batters add vital runs, the disparity between the batting returns of the rival teams is not marked.

However, the respective contributions of the opposing side's spinners – with Sri Lanka’s Rangana Herath, Dilruwan Perera and Lakshan Sandakan between them boasting 29 of the 33 Australian wickets to fall thus far – makes for a stark contrast.

With Lehmann singling out Lyon, who during the first Test became the first Australian off-spinner in almost 140 years of Test cricket to reach 200 wickets, for a pointed mention ahead of the India series where he is expected to loom as one of his team’s trump cards.

"Nathan Lyon’s experience has been very good for us over a period of time, but his record in the subcontinent is not great," Lehmann said of his number one spinner who has 101 wickets at 31.97 from his 26 Tests in Australia but 35 wickets at 44.42 from his nine Tests to date in Asia.

"So he’s got to improve, there’s no doubt about that.

"And (Jon) Holland is playing his first game so he’s going to be a little bit nervous, and we give him some leeway there.

"But at the end of the day (Sri Lanka’s) spinners have certainly out-bowled our spinners, no doubt whatsoever."