By Adrian Meredith
MELBOURNE, Australia (TheSportsNEXT) November 7, 2012: The first Test match of Australian summer is just around the corner as the Aussie cricketers will take on high-flying Proteas at Brisbane from November 9 (Friday).
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TheSportsNEXT.com’s Australian cricket blogger Adrian Meredith has some interesting points to make. Let’s check’em out!
Here are the best batsmen in Australia, in order:
1) Michael Hussey:
There is no need to look at his domestic record because he rarely plays domestically but internationally he has been doing incredibly well. He has done well in all 3 international formats, and is comfortably Australia's best test batsman. He averages over 50 in test cricket and is just a rock, a solid rock to depend on. While he has always played as an opening batsmen, in tests he tends to bat best at number 6, marshalling the tail, though he can cope at number 5 too.
2) Ricky Ponting:
It may surprise some to see that I currently rate Ponting as the 2nd best - after all, he has been quite terrible in tests for a good 3 or 4 years now, with only a few good periods. However, in domestic matches in the past year or so he has been phenomenal, in all 3 formats, doing better the longer the format is, and this season has averaged over 100 in first class cricket. If he had been dropped, as he almost was a year or so ago, he would be making his way back into the team now, that is how well he is going.
3) Michael Clarke:
I have never really been a fan of Clarke; but he is a player who plays above himself, who has done a lot better at international level than he has at domestic level. A man for the big occasion. He still averages around about 50 at test level and has done reasonably well in the past year or so. He might not be as good, or even capable of being as good, as either Ponting or Michael Hussey at their peaks, but he is still pretty good and a good player to have in the team right now. His occasional bowling can be useful too.
4) David Warner:
Until recently he was seen not only as a limited overs specialist but a T20 specialist; but he has modified his game so much that he is now a very good test player and not only has he done well in his handful of tests so far; but he has also done very well at FC level, showing very good technique. He looks like he will raise his current test record, not that it is terrible in the first place.
5) George Bailey:
He was also known as something of a limited overs specialist but since being named as T20 captain on his international debut, in spite of being in dubious form, he has done amazingly well, very Michael Clarke-ish by playing well and truly above himself. It is very notable that he has a higher ODI and T20 international record than his domestic records in those disciplines and, if he improves on his already decent 42 in FC cricket, he could well have the same kinds of statistics as Michael Clarke does. It surprises me somewhat that he wasn't in the squad to start with, in place of Ed Cowan, but even moreso that he wasn't picked ahead of Quiney.
All being fit, which they are, these should be the top 5 for Australia. I will, however, name the next 5 best for the purposes of showing who should be the backup players.
6) David Hussey:
Oh sure he is 35 years of age, but he is still Michael Hussey's YOUNGER brother, and Michael is Australia's best batsman! David has been in dubious form of late, so bad that he was dropped from the ODI and T20 teams; but has also had a few good innings lately, and his FC average of more than 50 can't be ignored, or at least it shouldn't be being ignored.
7) Usman Khawaja:
I felt that his debut 2 years ago was somewhat premature; but it can't be denied that he is a talent who is test quality. He didn't do particularly well in the tests that he played in but he wasn't horrible either - and did do better than Ed Cowan has been going. The fact that he is a much better player than Cowan, and much younger, means that he probably should be in the team ahead of him, and certainly ahead of Quiney.
8) Joe Burns:
If you were going to pick one player out of obscurity, this is the player you would pick. Averaging 42 at just 21 years of age, he has done everything right in his 2 seasons of FC cricket. He probably isn't really ready for test cricket; but if you were going to pick someone who is untested, someone who hasn't gone through all of the build up that the likes of Bailey, Hussey and Khawaja have, Joe Burns is your man.
9) Chris Rogers:
Rogers is suffering from some injuries of late but he is still a pretty darn good player who averages around 50 in FC cricket. He is a bit older but it is a bit unfair to refuse to consider him just because of age, especially when there are others in the team who are older.
10) Steve Smith:
He did very well in his first few international appearances, then appeared in some tests apparently just as a cheerleader, did his job well, and then was promptly dumped. In spite of some very good form since then, and a very positive mindset, he has apparently been written off, at least for the moment. It seems to be something of a strange thing.
Now, on to the all-rounders. We can either have 0, 1 or 2, depending on if we want to go with 6-1-4 or 5-1-1-4 or 5-2-1-3 line ups. Australia rarely play 2 all-rounders, though was a time when Steve Waugh and Greg Matthews played alongside each other, not to mention Marcus North and Andrew McDonald playing together recently. Even Shane Watson and Andrew Symonds briefly played together.
1) Shane Watson:
Probably Australia's most valuable player, he is the best all-rounder that Australia has ever produced. He may be a way behind the best ever to play the game for any country, and his figures may look a lot better in ODIs and T20s, but he is still a very good player. His batting is better than Cowan's or Quiney's while his bowling is good enough that he has taken a 5 wicket innings at Lord's, and while he doesn't always bowl when he does he can be amazing. The only problem is his constant injuries.
2) Dan Christian:
About 4 years ago a rich vein of form came across Dan Christian and he was rewarded, after 2 years of such amazing form, with a T20 call up, then an ODI call up, and he did incredibly well. He has alternated between being a batsman who rescues the innings or a bowler who bowls them to victory; but he certainly has a winning feel about him. As a batsman he is very consistent, while as a bowler he is quite unpredictable, playing a similar role to how Watson plays. While his batting average is worse than Watson's - as is his strike rate - and his bowling is worse, he is in a similar mold. He was supposed to be the next all-rounder to play if Watson was ever out. Yet, somehow or other, he has been skipped over by picking a batsman. His bowling could have been very useful in Brisbane, with very different bowling to what South Africa are used to.
3) James Faulkner:
The biggest problem for Faulkner is that he is yet to play internationally. His FC bowling record is as good as most of the full time bowlers, and his batting record is decent too. But could he handle the pressure of the big time? He is very young and it wouldn't be ridiculous for him to jump over Christian - except that it is probably too soon to pick him. If they were going to have a left field all-rounder called up, he would be the one to pick.
4) Andrew McDonald:
He made his test debut against South Africa the last time that they played each other, played the whole 3 test series, alongside Marcus North, did very well, and then was dumped while North was retained, which even at the time seemed like a bad decision. Since then, McDonald has been in phenomenal form, at least when he wasn't getting injured. But his constant injuries would be a problem.
5) Mitchell Marsh:
He has done so well at domestic level and at international level, winning games that seemed unwinnable; but he probably wouldn't be considered because of disciplinary reasons. He is a player that you want in any side though so not the worst choice.
6) Glenn Maxwell:
Maxwell has good FC numbers, though he has barely played at that level and the big problem for him is that in his international matches so far his bowling has been horrendous. He isn't a good enough batsman to play purely as a batsman and his bowling has been shown to be, at international level, not good enough for him to be considered to be an all-rounder. Nonetheless, if his bowling can be as good as the numbers suggest that are, perhaps he could be good.
Now for the wicket keepers:
1) Matthew Wade
When he started his FC career he was actually behind Tim Paine, as Tasmania had dumped their regular keeper in favour of Paine because Paine batted better - even though the guy Paine replaced was a better keeper; so when Wade came through Tasmania simply weren't interested in a pure keeper. Wade moved to Victoria, where he soon replaced Crosthwaite, who, like Paine, was more of a batsman than a keeper. But, just to be sure, Wade worked on his batting too. Soon Wade was the 2nd best keeper in the country behind Chris Hartley but in the past couple of years he has overtaken Hartley. Wade was still behind Paine and Haddin as a batsman - and probably Luke Ronchi too - but in recent times he has caught up to them with batting too. There is now no doubt that Wade is the top keeper in every way. He has also shown himself at international level, in all 3 formats, winning matches that otherwise would have been lost. He may not yet be close to as good as Gilchrist, and perhaps he never will be, but he is at least comparable to Ian Healy or Rod Marsh, who were very good keepers.
2) Peter Nevill
Poor Brad Haddin is now no longer even the best keeper in his state, as Peter Nevill came from out of nowhere in the past 2 years to go past Dan Smith to be New South Wales's 2nd keeper, behind Haddin. And, with runs galore, and great dismissals, he is realistically quite a distance above Haddin too. He might not strike quite as well as Haddin but Nevill's rise now means that this will probably be Haddin's last season, as Nevill looks set to replace him. Nevill also looks set to be the back up for Wade.
3) Chris Hartley
As at when Adam Gilchrist retired, Hartley was comfortably Australia's best keeper; but unfortunately the selectors were more interested in getting a good batsman than a good keeper; so went with Brad Haddin. Since then, about 3 or 4 years ago Matthew Wade went past Hartley and now, in the past year or so, so too has Nevill. Hartley will probably never play for Australia now, in spite of working on his batting. But Hartley has never improved his batting enough to be considered, and now it looks all over. Still a mighty fine keeper though.
As a side note, Peter Nevill's batting is probably close to good enough to make it into the Australian test side purely as a batsman, though that would send the wrong message to Matthew Wade. Brad Haddin isn't far off being good enough to play purely as a batsman too, at least in ODIs and T20s. Tim Paine is a bit too slow to play purely as a batsman in ODIs or T20s and isn't good enough to play purely as a batsman in tests.
Fast bowlers:
1) Ryan Harris
Clearly Australia's best bowler, the only issue is fitness. Unfortunately, right now he is out injured so others have to replace him.
2) Justin Pattinson
He has done very well in his few tests so far, and has also batted well. He has avoided injury and simply done everything right. He may not maintain his test bowling average of 18 but for now it is very impressive.
3) Doug Bollinger
Yeah yeah so he hit the wall, whatever. He is still an amazing bowler in fantastic form who the selectors shouldn't be ignoring.
4) Mitchell Starc
I am very reluctant to ignore a bowler just because he has a better limited overs average than a FC record, as good bowlers tend to get good figures, overall, in both. Starc looks like a very good bowler and is someone I would have in every team.
Those are the four I would pick if I was going in with all pace. Of course, Harris is out injured and the selectors hate Bollinger, so we have to expand the net somewhat.
5) Clint McKay
What a fantastic bowler he is, with guile and skill and accuracy, he can do anything. He has done fantastically well domestically in all 3 formats and internationally he has been amazing in 2 formats - but then got bad figures in 1 and only 1 test - in spite of bowling well - and now it seems that he will never play another test. More than a little unfair, as he is quite fantastic.
6) Alistair McDermott
I know he is yet to make his international debut but he is tearing up the domestic circuit and if you were going to pluck someone from obscurity, he is the one you would go with. A very good bowler!
7) Mitchell Johnson
Still a very, very good bowler, who is in good enough form, he has that intimidation factor and is someone I would always be thinking of, even if I didn't always pick him. I'd certainly pick him for Brisbane though, in conditions that suit him.
8) John Hastings
A very good bowler who did almost as well as McKay in his limited international matches before getting injured, he is yet to play a test and looks like a very good option.
Note that I didn't pick either Pat Cummins, Ben Hilfenhaus, Peter Siddle or Josh Hazlewood. They aren't particularly terrible bowlers; but I don't rate them in the top 8. Hilfenhaus is good in England and Siddle probably is too but I'd just rather someone who was more of a powerhouse. Pat Cummins had one good test, and otherwise hasn't got too much behind him, while Hazlewood really has a way to go before he is good enough in my books, though he isn't the worst bowler in the world.
Spin bowlers:
1) Nathan Lyon:
There is really no doubt that Lyon is Australia's best spin bowler. He has control and has done pretty much everything right. Oh sure so he isn't as good as spinners from other countries but he still isn't too bad. Should only play on spinning tracks though.
2) Nathan Hauritz:
I don't know what happened to him but he was doing very well for Australia then was dumped for Doherty, only to have fantastic form and be totally ignored. Why? Did he get upset with a selector? Anyway, I still rate him pretty highly, just the same.
3) Steve O'Keefe:
A very good left armer who has skill and guile and has basically been ignored, while continuing to do very well domestically, and he can bat a bit better than most of the others too. He did well in his few T20 internationals too, so why he wasn't considered for longer formats is anybody's guess.
4) Xavier Doherty:
Had a horror start to his domestic career but has improved significantly in the past few years and has done well enough in international matches too, though he had a horror 2 tests when he played at that level, meaning that he may never be considered in that format again. Spins the ball an absolute mile but lacks the kind of trickery really needed from a spinner.
So, given that Ryan Harris and Shane Watson are out injured, my team, depending on balance, would be:
David Warner
Michael Hussey
Ricky Ponting
Michael Clarke
George Bailey
David Hussey / Dan Christian
Matthew Wade
Clint McKay / James Faulkner
Justin Pattinson
Mitchell Starc
Doug Bollinger / Nathan Lyon
This allows for either 6 batsmen/1 keeper/4 bowlers or 5 batsmen/1 all rounder/1 keeper/4 bowlers or 5 batsmen/2 all rounders/1 keeper/3 bowlers and with the flexibility of playing a spinner. Of course, it might be that they decide to open with Michael Clarke instead of Michael Hussey, or with someone else again.
Michael Hussey has always opened throughout his first class career, and has even opened in a test match once; so would be the obvious choice; but he is so valued down the order that the selectors and the team may not want it.
The team that they selected for the 1st test is nowhere near as good as my team (above). Even if they had gone for the 7th and 8th best batsmen in Khawaja and Joe Burns, or gone in with the 4th best all-rounder in McDonald, it is still a good team. While I don't like Siddle and Hilfenhaus in the team - or Lyon in the squad as I don't want a spinner at Brisbane - more of a worry is the inclusion of Cowan and Quiney.
While I can understand picking a player due to good recent form, the good recent form should be a bit better than averaging 43 in the past 12 months. It should be like Alex Doolan and Ricky Ponting averaging 100 this year, or Liam Davis averaging close to 60 last year. Mid 40s as an overall FC average shouldn't be good enough for test selection - let alone if that is in the past 12 months only and is an improvement on the overall record.
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