Australia kept calm and carried on while the rest of us overreacted

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you.

I wonder if old Rudyard had a premonition of a future swashbuckling South Australian when he wrote about keeping one’s Head.

Australia kept calm and carried on while the rest of us overreacted.

They kept the faith, trusted their personnel and process, corrected their errors and levelled the series.

You can’t ask much more of a team than that.

It’s the prerogative of observers to catastrophise.

It’s the responsibility of a team to problem solve.

Perth was a calamity worthy of heavy critique.

There were trend lines that became fault lines.

But captain and coach held to the fact it was just one Test match and vowed to “leave Perth in Perth”.

The response would be everything.

The need to set things right at the first time of asking... from the very first ball of the next Test match as it turned out.

For all that was said in the long gap between the first and second Test nothing could match the actions of Mitch Starc taking a wicket to open affairs in Adelaide.

It was the perfect metaphor and set up a checklist of rectification.

Yashasvi Jaiswal had taunted Starc. He got his, as Starc cut a swathe through the first innings.

Pat Cummins had looked underdone – by the time he’d taken five in the second innings his pace was up and his precision honed.

Australia’s top order had to occupy to give the dashers the chance to attack.

In Perth seven wickets fell in the final session of day one squandering the opportunity created and ultimately losing the match.

In Adelaide nine wickets were preserved with a greater degree of difficulty given the twilight/night phase.

In identical circumstances the next night India lost five wickets and all hope.

Usman Khawaja lasted long enough that Jasprit Bumrah couldn’t get a sustained crack at Marnus Labuschagne.

And Nathan McSweeny dug in to stumps for the most valuable experience a rookie opener could get.

Labuschagne had to make runs – he clawed his way out of a slump and then stroked his way to form.

It spoke to his diligence and determination.

His 64 was meritorious given his long-term form but the job of the Test number three is to churn out centuries - so let’s hold off the gold stars for now.

The must-have item was a batter reaching three figures – Travis Head blistered his way to the milestone.

Industrial sized runs from the top order are the commodity that has been lacking – 337 was an improvement but hardly the ceiling.

The wildly differing results from Perth and Adelaide offer a caution against further sweeping statements lest we flip-flop with every Test.

There remain valid questions.

But it was a must-win Test and Australia won emphatically – the answer was always going to be empirical.

Australia balanced up sticking to what it believes.

Support and stability won the day when I had favoured accountability and proportional change.

It’s the bedrock of this regime.

And they stayed true to how they play the game – winning with skill and guile with no need to resort to the snarl and bark of old some had demanded.

That’s to be admired.

What the team couldn’t hide was its prickliness toward the Perth criticism.

They clearly felt they were entitled to a bit of slack and little more faith.

On at least the last count I reckon they were right.

The third Test between Australia and India kicks off at the Gabba in Brisbane on Saturday, December 14.