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In the wake of Sunday’s humbling ODI loss to Sri Lanka, the Australian selectors have announced a revised 12-man squad for the next two matches.
This new squad sees the notable omissions of batsmen Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja after very short stints in the side. Steven Smith is another to bite the dust despite only featuring in one game.
All three of the players have been in blistering form domestically, yet have been given scarce opportunity to prove themselves and adjust to International conditions.
Aaron Finch’s statistics in the second season of the KFC T20 Big Bash League are outstanding, averaging 76. Furthermore, in the national one-day competition, the Ryobi Cup, Finch averages 99 and has scored by far the most runs among all batsmen.
Similar to Finch, Khawaja has been dominant on the domestic front, single-handedly carrying the hapless Sydney Thunder. He averages over 50 in the Ryobi Cup. Smith can also boast great statistics in both competitions.
Prior to the start of the ODI series, the selectors cited preparing for the 2015 World Cup as a major aspect of the teams we are seeing.
This accounts for the surprising decision to leave out Michael Hussey, which is another story all together.
If the selectors’ goal is to prepare young players and test out who can bring Australia victory, providing each player with only one or two games is not going to bring about any reliable results.
Giving the players time to perform will enable them to perform better, rather than having to look over their shoulder at other candidates while on their debut.
The decision to drop these players becomes even more puzzling when the replacements chosen have not been in any sort of form themselves.
Moises Henriques can boast just one 50 in the Ryobi Cup and averaged a lowly 11 in the Big Bash. Glenn Maxwell’s ability to maintain a spot in the team is also quite strange considering his performances in the two games thus far have been substandard.
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