Michael Clarke's team won the final Test, what next? And who might be in the team? (AFP : Torsten Blackwood)
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Michael Clarke is proving to be a terrific captain, certainly far superior to Ricky Ponting and already he is showing signs of being another Tubby Taylor in the way he manipulates his bowlers. His performance as captain was an important part of this victory over South Africa.
I would add as a plangent after-thought, that Peter Roebuck strongly argued for Clarke to be captain on the grounds that he was a more thoughtful and inspiring captain than his ‘metro’ behaviour at times suggested.
I always judge captains on the way they use their spinners. Clarke was very good with Nathan Lyon. He showed a lot of confidence in him bringing him on at important times, even when the batsmen were on top.
Lyon for his part responded to this confidence and bowled as well as any finger-spinner has for Australia in recent years.
The now-retired selection panel had many faults and it shuffled through the pack of finger-spinners a lot before they made their left-field choice with Lyon. But he looks the part as an equivalent to England’s Graeme Swann.
The balance of the new team is dependent on whether Shane Watson can bowl. If he can, he goes down in the batting order to four possibly and becomes the fourth seam bowler and the team’s all-rounder. If he can’t bowl, then an all-rounder (not Mitchell Johnson) has to be found.
As for the wicket-keeper, David Lord made an excellent point about Brad Haddin being retained.
On reflection, and re-canting on my my call for young Wade to be put in the keeper’s slot, Haddin’s retention would be until Tim Paine is available and in-form.
My guess is the selectors want the option of using him, possibly even as an opener if Philip Hughes does not cement his place in the batting line-up.
I agree also that Peter Siddle and Johnston need to be replaced with younger bowlers with more penetration and movement of the ball. There are a number of them around, as David pointed out, with Trent Copeland, Mitchell Starc, James Pattinson, and Ben Cutting, among others. It is a matter of the balance of the attack and if Watson is available to bowl.
The batting prospects offer only David Warner as challenging the present incumbents. It has to be admitted that Ricky Ponting looked the best of the Australian batsmen in the second innings. Can he do a Tendulkar? Will the selectors allow him to continue?
I am changing on this. I originally thought his number was up. But he batted so splendidly, and has been so good for so long, until recently of course, that perhaps he deserves a chance to stay on if this is what he wants to do. There is the possibility of a summer farewell. This would be fitting for a champion of the game.
The shape of the team is the important thing for the selectors to consider.
One final thought, why is it that South Africa can’t defeat Australia in a Test series in South Africa? (At least since the 1970s). It couldn’t be a choking factor could it?
This was a tremendous victory for the Baggy Greens and a memorable Test for Patrick Cummins. Australian cricket has always flourished when great young talent is given its chance to perform at the highest levels.
Cummins could be the next all-time great Australian cricketer. It’s been a long time between greats for Australian cricket!
The Australians face New Zealand next, with two Tests against the Black Caps, starting on December 1.
Happy days are coming. There is a nucleus of very good players available for the new selection panel to develop a terrific team, certainly in time to win the next Ashes series. For the first time since the Warne/McGrath era there is the potential to bowl sides out, which is the key to winning Tests.
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November 22nd 2011 @ 10:06am
Matt F said | November 22nd 2011 @ 10:06am | Report comment
Spiro – I’ve read Davids aticle a couple of times and I can’t find where his excellent point about Haddin is? The closest that I could find is when he says “My gut feeling is Ponting and Haddin will survive for the Gabba” which is a feeling that I’m having as well but its not exactly a claim that he should stay. It’s probably that I’ve just missed the line you’re referring to though.
Regardless, why wait until Paine is fit? Why is he the anointed one when Wade is playing as well as he is? Wades glovework might be a fraction, and I do mean a fraction, behind Paines but its better then Haddins and Wades batting is the best of the lot. If the general consensus is that Wade is better then Haddin at the moment (which it seems to be) then why wait? Surley we must put out our best XI? What if Paine takes a while to find form when he returns from injury? With half the domestic season already over he might not hit form until next summer. We can’t give Haddin a free pass until Paine finds form because we don’t know how long that will take.
It’s also Sean Marsh, not Warner that will determine Pontings fate. If he (and Watson) are fit then someone has to make way for Marsh. Clarke, Hussey and Hughes will all be there due to the runs that they’ve scored and Khawaja did outscore Ponting in both innings of this test match. Personally I think Khawaja looked better then Ponting (not by much mind you) and certainly Pontings dismissal was a lot softer than Khawajas.
I agree with you on the bowling, though I think Siddle will just survive. He doesn’t deserve to but, especially if the pick Harris and Cummins, they’ll want a bowler who can bowl long spells and, given Copeland seems to be on the outer for some strange reason, Siddle is the most likely candidate.
November 22nd 2011 @ 10:31am
MrKistic said | November 22nd 2011 @ 10:31am | Report comment
I don’t think Siddle has been so bad as many seem to be suggesting. He hasn’t taken a bag it’s true, but he’s been tidy and can bowl a decent length spell which gives Clark a good experienced option, especially if we’re swapping out Johnson for a young bowler with talent. Which we bloody well better be.
November 22nd 2011 @ 10:56am
Matt F said | November 22nd 2011 @ 10:56am | Report comment
My issue is that he’s too inconsistent. He seems to be the bowling version of Marcus North, in that he’ll struggle to take a wicket for a few tests and then, when under pressure, takes a bag to keep his spot. Then the cycle continues….. There’s no point in him bowling lots of overs if he only picks up 1 wicket, that kind of bowler needs to be consistently taking 1-3 wickets every innings. Certainly Johnson should go before Siddle but he’s on thin ice for mind.
November 22nd 2011 @ 9:38pm
Fisher Price said | November 22nd 2011 @ 9:38pm | Report comment
Yeah, good point. He certainly goes through many innings without threatening to take a wicket, even if bowling respectably.
Siddle’s much less of liability to the side thatn the usually expensive Johnson, but his wholeheartedness lacks a consistent end product.
November 22nd 2011 @ 4:14pm
Galaxy Hop said | November 22nd 2011 @ 4:14pm | Report comment
He hasn’t been tidy,, that’s the thing. He builds no pressure on batsmen or partnerships. Copeland should be there, no doubt. Harris (if fit), Copeland, Cummins and Lyon.
November 22nd 2011 @ 10:20am
Viscount Crouchback said | November 22nd 2011 @ 10:20am | Report comment
An entertaining series but something of a battle of the middleweights, it must be said. South Africa’s inability to put teams away at home – that’s England, India and now Australia in consecutive summers, all series which the Proteas probably ought to have won – suggests to me that they do indeed lack something upstairs.
I fancy England to put the Africans away 3-0 next year, but it ought to be an interesting series.
November 22nd 2011 @ 10:21am
jameswm said | November 22nd 2011 @ 10:21am | Report comment
If Watson can’t bowl, Copeland has to play to make up the overs. That means Cummins, Harris and Copeland as your 3 “quicks”, and Watson opening.
Also, if he’s to be more of an all rounder (and his bowling of late justifies this), he needs to bat further down than 4. 4 is half padded up as the openers walk out, and he’ll need a break to shower, change, have a feed and a rub maybe, before padding up.
Ponting has batted too poorly in the last 2 years to potect his spot, both subjectively and on numbers. Shield batsmen would be dropped if they produced numbers like his.
Haddin opening in a test? With Hughes maybe? We’d be 2 for less than 20 80% of the time. Even in place of HUghes, why have one suspect opener there? Why not two solid ones?
November 22nd 2011 @ 10:47am
Ryan O'Connell said | November 22nd 2011 @ 10:47am | Report comment
jameswm, I think Spiro was actually referring to Paine opening the batting.
However, for the exact same reason that Watson can no longer be asked to open the batting, you simply cannot have your wicket-keeper at the very top of the order in Test cricket. It’s just too big of an ask.
Especially with our bowling attack at present – you may be asking your keeper to open the batting after being behind the stumps for 1.5 to 2 days straight. That’s expecting too much physically and mentally.
November 22nd 2011 @ 10:45am
Chris said | November 22nd 2011 @ 10:45am | Report comment
Spiro, I would disagree with you on Ponting. I would say he has batted so poorly for so long now that he can’t possibly be kept on. Getting a half century at this point isn’t nearly good enough. A hundred might (and I stress might) have swayed me, but he wasn’t able to go on with his good start. I hope he has the decency to retire on his own terms, but I fear he will have to be pushed. Which will be a shame for Australia’s most outstanding batsman of his generation.
I’m still at a loss why Watson is being persisted with as an opener. Due to his bowling being so valuable, he seems to be such a logical choice as an all-rounder. I my view this opens the logical choice of bringing back Katich to partner Hughes as opener. It gives Hughes a mentor and the team a steady personality who is very successful at knuckling down and performing a proper opener’s duties. However I suspect Katich’s file has been marked ‘never again’… Which makes for an interesting problem as Warner seems to be the next batting cab off the rank. While I have no doubt he will go well as opener, I would prefer to see him play out a full (successful) Shield season before elevating him to the Test team. Not sure it would be the best thing for Hughes either right now.
Agree on Clarke’s captaincy so far – very encouraging. I would have given the vice-captaincy to Hussey instead of Watson. I think Huss has another season (or two at the most) – would be good for Pup’s captaincy to have the old stager around for advice.
Not sure about the wicketkeeping position. I suspect Haddin will be kept on, but Wade (and when fit) Paine do seem capable if the selectors wanted to make a change there.
Bowling department – Lyon has been solid and should be retained. I’d be ditching Johnson and Siddle and building up a squad of young quicks to rotate around – Cummins, Copeland, Starc, Pattinson and Cutting are an exciting (and varied) bunch.
November 22nd 2011 @ 10:52am
jameswm said | November 22nd 2011 @ 10:52am | Report comment
Chris
If Marsh bats 3, why not Khawaja as opener? Kat and Langer were both manufactured openers, and that process is surely easier with a no.3.
November 22nd 2011 @ 3:52pm
Chris said | November 22nd 2011 @ 3:52pm | Report comment
That’s a valid point, except I see Khawaja as a ready made replacement for Ponting at No. 3. We do have specialist openers in this country – who are in form. So why not pick them?
I wonder whether Marsh’s chronic injury situation will count against him in the long run? I don’t doubt his talent, just his ability to string together enough games in a row to justify his selection.
November 22nd 2011 @ 4:00pm
Ian Whitchurch said | November 22nd 2011 @ 4:00pm | Report comment
Chris said, “We do have specialist openers in this country – who are in form.”
Im interested. Who, and what are they averaging ?
November 22nd 2011 @ 11:03am
Johnno said | November 22nd 2011 @ 11:03am | Report comment
Why no respect out there for the fast bowler peter George is a tall man with some good bounce. Been bowling well in shield, and what has happened to clint mckay he had some potential.
November 22nd 2011 @ 11:24am
Elbow said | November 22nd 2011 @ 11:24am | Report comment
Cummins was a success at least inpart because he was selected when in form. If form is a factor, and results are an indicator of form, shouldn’t there be more Qld players being mentioned other than Cutting.
November 22nd 2011 @ 11:36am
sheek said | November 22nd 2011 @ 11:36am | Report comment
I was wondering to myself what kind of score Ponting needed in this last innings to keep the critic-hounds at bay. I thought an even 80 would be the bottom bar aceeptable score.
So in the circumstances, I think 62 was unsatisfactory. Punter has been down in form for some time now, & is showing clear signs of a former great in increasing decline. He might pull out one or two big innings here & there (can anyone else remember the teeth extracting-like pain of watching the tail-end of Mark Waugh’s career?) but clearly his best days are now well & truly behind him.
November 22nd 2011 @ 12:26pm
Pano777 said | November 22nd 2011 @ 12:26pm | Report comment
I still can’t fathom how we are discussing Watson as an opener. He definitely needs to bat at 6 and is a natural all rounder. My feeling is his body will suffer, if asked to field and bowl for 1-2 days of test cricket, and then back up with “fresh” legs to take on the new ball! He is a prodigious talent, but that doesn’t mean we ask him to do it all!
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November 22nd 2011 @ 1:35pm
Ryan O'Connell said | November 22nd 2011 @ 1:35pm | Report comment
Quite right, Pano. Though its clearly moved passed the ‘will suffer’ stage. It already is.
November 22nd 2011 @ 12:27pm
Phil Coorey said | November 22nd 2011 @ 12:27pm | Report comment
“Michael Clarke is proving to be a terrific captain, certainly far superior to Ricky Ponting and already he is showing signs of being another Tubby Taylor in the way he manipulates his bowlers. .”
After 4 or 5 tests in charge? Wow
I think I might wait until the sample size gets a little bigger before I judge Clarke….
November 22nd 2011 @ 1:52pm
AdamS said | November 22nd 2011 @ 1:52pm | Report comment
I would think it’s more a judgment of Pontings’ captaincy skills than Clarkes’.
As a Captain of anything but the dream team, Ponting was terrible.’ that is to say anytime a decision was required that could effect the outcome he invariably made the wrong one.
November 22nd 2011 @ 12:41pm
AdamS said | November 22nd 2011 @ 12:41pm | Report comment
“Deserves to stay on if that is his wish”
When did “deserves” come into it? Or “wishes” for that matter?
I wish I had a pony and probably deserve to win lotto, neither is going to happen any time soon I’m sure. And that might be for the best as I don’t have room for a pony, …unless I win lotto.
He doesn’t deserve anything and one measly 60 doesn’t turn around 2 years of poor form. That’s 2 whole years of frankly fairly ordinary performances that would have sent anyone else back to the sheds.
http://www.howstat.com/cricket/Statistics/Players/PlayerBatGraph.asp?PlayerID=2041
This isn’t an amateur or poorly paid bloke making sacrifices for his country. cricket and Australia have made him a multi millionaire. He can bloody well buy his own pony if he “wishes” one. He probably could afford a unicorn.