Tourists must fix batting failures to avoid a whitewash

If you cannot bat, you cannot win. Until Australia solve their batting problems they have not a cat in hell's chance of making a game of it against England, never mind winning the Ashes.

Michael Clarke can talk a good game. The coach, Darren Lehmann, can suggest it will improve. The occasional Australian batsman can play a little cameo but that is totally useless until they occupy the crease, show better technique, patience and improve their shot selection.

Even if they win the toss and bat on a very flat pitch they do not have enough ability or mental resolve to stop the England team. They are going to get steamrollered in the same way Australia used to wallop us. Now the boot is on the other foot. I always thought that their batting was a problem but I never dreamt it would be this bad.

Without runs you are never in the game and at times the Australian technique or mental application is no better than Zimbabwe or Bangladesh. Shane Watson is a very talented cricketer but at his age it is a bit late to try to alter the way you play. In 79 innings he has got out 31% of the time lbw. He unfurls some really good shots but plays across the line time and time again. There has been no improvement, no change in the way he plays and that is stupid.

Chris Rogers was brought in at the last moment from playing county cricket for Middlesex. He is a stop-gap opener who is not good enough but tries like hell. I commend his defensive efforts to let the ball come to him. He tries to stay in but has not got enough batting ability.

Usman Khawaja looks a decent player. He just made a mental error in the first innings by stupidly trying to hit Graeme Swann over the top. In the second innings he learnt his lesson, knuckled down and played really well. He got forward to the turning ball smothering the spin, he had the patience to wait for Swann to bowl too straight and worked him on the on side. Seamers were not a problem to him.

Anything slightly short, he put away with an excellent pull shot. What he needs to do is go on from here and play the same way again. Michael Clarke is the one high-quality player. But so far this series he has not done enough for Australia. He got one magic ball at Trent Bridge, played very well here and is one of the world's best. But he is batting with people not in the same class as him. Phillip Hughes amazed me with an excellent 81 not out at Trent Bridge. He watched the ball carefully on to the bat, tightened up his technique from when he played here four years ago but at Lord's he looked out of his depth. Maybe Trent Bridge was a one-off innings.

Steve Smith looks to me like a player who wants to be aggressive every innings he plays and sometimes it will come off. But he did not seem able to adapt to the situation in the first innings when the ball was turning. He played miles too far in front of his pad, it bounced and he popped it to short leg. In the second innings he played an expansive drive without any foot movement with a stiff left leg. He was miles away from the pitch of the ball. These are elementary mistakes.

The top six in any team has to bat collectively and make the bulk of the team's runs. You cannot leave it to wicketkeepers and tailenders to lift you out of the mire every time. In fact yesterday if you were a neutral watching the Australian batsmen and then some of the tailenders bat, you would think the tailenders were better players.

Peter Siddle, James Pattinson and Ryan Harris looked more comfortable at the crease. That is ridiculous. Are we English enjoying it? You bet we are. When Australia were thrashing us they lauded it over us, they were so conceited and bombastic, overbearing and up their own backsides that some players trashed England. Guys such as Rod Marsh rubbished us to the point of calling our bowlers "pie chuckers".

There was some truth in it because we were a shambles but this Australian batting line-up is worse than ours used to be. In 1994-95 we went Down Under and were insulted when they made our national team play a one-day series against Australia and Australia A.

Well now I think our England Lions could beat this lot, or at least give them a run for their money. In some ways many of us England supporters want to see Australia thrashed 5-0 and then go to Australia this winter and beat them 5-0 in their own country. In another way it is not good for cricket with such a traditional contest being so one-sided.

I cannot see them batting much better because it is a bit late to be sorting out your technique in the middle of a Test series. Anybody who put their money on England winning 10-0, which looked fanciful at the time, could be laughing all the way to the bank.