But there are still plenty of holes to fill.Itd be easier

Australia have been in a batting rut for the last few months, and a recurring theme has been their batting collapses, when they have lost top-order wickets in a heap. It happened in Hobart, in Perth, and before that in Colombo, Galle and Pallekele as well. In some of these Tests there have been passages when a pair has settled in, but a breakthrough for the bowling team has generally led to a flurry of wickets, and this malaise has been more acute in 2016 than it has been in a long time.In eight Tests this year, Australia have had 79 partnerships for the top six wickets, of which 35 have ended before going past single digits. That is a whopping 44% of top-order partnerships that havent gone past 10, which is the worst for them in more than 100 years: the last time that percentage was higher was in 1901, when they played just one Test, and had seven sub-ten partnerships out of 12, for the top six wickets across both innings.In the last 100 years, the next highest percentage for Australia was in 1956, when 37 out of 95 partnerships for the top six wickets ended before getting to 10, a percentage of 38.95. The year 2011 was tough too, with a percentage of 37.76, but in their best batting years, the failure rates have been really low: it was just 6.06% in 2007 (two out of 33), 11.29 in 1998 (14 out of 124). Even in the two previous years, the percentages were in the early 20s - 21.26 in 2015, 22.43% in 2014. In fact, Australias average partnership for the top six wickets in 2014 and 2015 was 50.47; in 2016, it has slumped to 36.58. From an average of one century partnership in seven attempts in those two years, the frequency has reduced to one every 13 attempts in 2016.Of those 35 single-digit partnerships in 2016, eight came in Hobart, five each in Perth and Colombo, seven in Galle and six in Pallekele. Even in an innings when they scored big - 562 against New Zealand in Wellington - there were still three sub-10 partnerships among the first six wickets. That suggests an unhealthy reliance on a few batsmen to score all the runs, and too many top-order failures on a regular basis.*In a calendar year, since 1930 Even when comparing with other teams in 2016, Australias failure rate in partnerships stands out: even Bangladesh and Zimbabwe have a lower percentage of sub-10 partnerships, while the failure rate is considerably lower for the other top sides. India have had only nine completed stands of less than ten, out of 71 partnerships for the top six wickets, a percentage of less than 13. Australias top order, on the other hand, have had 11 partnerships of zero, and 24 others between one and nine, in 79 stands. For England, Pakistan and South Africa, the percentage is below 30. The two top-order partnerships that have been most disappointing for Australia have been the ones between David Warner and Joe Burns, and between Steven Smith and Adam Voges. In ten partnerships between Warner and Burns, the pair has added only 184 runs, of which 100 came in one innings, at the start of the year against West Indies in Sydney. The last six stands between them read thus: 3, 2, 0, 3, 2, 0.Smith-Voges has been even poorer, with 89 partnership runs from eight innings at 12.71. Between these two pairs, they have contributed 12 single-digit stands in 18 partnerships. The one consistently prolific pair for Australia has been Usman Khawaja-Smith: in six innings they have four partnerships of 50 or more, and a superb average of nearly 57. The contrast for these two pairs before and since the start of 2016 is particularly stark, and is symptomatic of Australias batting slump. Before 2016, both Warner-Burns and Smith-Voges had average partnerships of more than 70. Together, the two pairs added 1474 runs in 18 partnerships, at an average of 86.71, with six century stands. Since the start of 2016, these two pairs have added 273 runs in 18 partnerships, at an average of 16.06. This five-fold drop in partnership aggregate and average for these two pairs best illustrates Australias batting nosedive in 2016. Roger Maris . -- Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson asked his players a simple question during Fridays morning shootaround: How many of them had ever been on a team 14 games over . Vince Coleman . The phone hearing is scheduled for 4:30pm et/1:30pm pt. 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A year ago, Oklahoma went into its Big 12 Conference game with Kansas State smarting following a 24-17 upset loss to Texas in the Red River Rivalry. The Sooners took their frustrations out by handing the Wildcats their first home shutout loss since 1991, 55-0.This year, the 19th-ranked Sooners (3-2, 2-0) come into the contest after a 45-40 victory over the Longhorns. Needless to say, Bill Snyders Wildcats (3-2, 1-1), who scored a wild 44-38 victory over Texas Tech last week, are looking forward to Saturday afternoons rematch at Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla.We cant wait to go into OU and give them a little payback for last year, said Wildcats offensive tackle Dalton Risner.Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, an assistant on Snyders first seven Kansas State teams from 1989 to 1995, says last years convincing blowout win doesnt carry much weight this time around.Last year has nothing to do with this year, Stoops said during the Big 12 coaches teleconference. Were both two completely different teams. Weve got to continue to get better as a team. We havent played close to what we think we can play.Thats especially true on defense. The Sooners who rank 109th in points allowed at 36.2 points per game yielding 40 or more points in three consecutive games. A big reason for that has been due to a rash of injuries.Going into last weeks game against Texas, the Sooners were missing five players who had started on defense at some point this season. During the game, four more were forced out, leading to an influx of young -- or at least inexperienced -- players into Oklahomas defense.I dont recall that we had that many injuries at once and so many young guys going in there and playing, Stoops said before praising their performance.They figure to need another strong one Saturday when Oklahoma hosts Kansas State.The Wildcats have won their last two trips to Norman -- the only road team to win back-to-back road games against the Sooners since Stoops took over in 1999.The good news for the Soooners is that some of the injured players are expected back soon.dddddddddddd. Defensive back Ahmad Thomas is likely to be back after taking a knee to the head last week. Outside linebacker Will Johnson should be able to play against the Wildcats as well after missing the last two weeks.But there are still plenty of holes to fill.Itd be easier to say whos set to go, Stoops said when ticking off his injured players, mostly on the defensive side. Youve just got to keep (going). The guys had a good attitude about it and those young guys, credit to them -- they had their head in the game plan in practice and they were ready to play and for the most part played well.Safety Steven Parker, a junior, was affected as well. Not only did he have to shift from free safety to strong safety to nickel back during the course of the game but its his job to make sure everyone else in the secondary is aligned correctly.Its tough, trying to get yourself lined up and on top of that, making sure that theyre doing their responsibilities, doing everything theyre supposed to be doing, Parker said. Youre calling out the defense. Its a lot just on one play, especially covering those young guys. The majority of them know what theyre doing. Its really more communication and making sure everybody is all in one and all intact.Fortunately for the Sooners they have plenty of offensive weapons to cover up for their defensive woes. Oklahoma rolled up a season-high 672 yards in the Texas win. The contest marked the just the fifth time in FBS history that a team produced a 300-yard passer (Baker Mayfield, 390), a 200-yard rusher (Samaje Perine, 214) and a 200-yard receivers (Dede Westbrook, school-record 232 yards).Oklahoma is 15-2 under Stoops in Big 12 home openers and is 16-1 in the game after playing Texas. That lone loss was to Kansas State, 31-30, two years ago in Norman. ' ' '