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The future of Australia's Test team

21st April, 2014
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Jackson Bird deserves to be selected for the Ashes. (AFP/William West)
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21st April, 2014
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The dust has now settled on a dreamy summer of Test triumphs. A Sheffield Shield has gone to New South Wales for only the 46th time, and a peculiar list of Cricket Australia contracts has been awarded.

Amid this hazy euphoria and fun there is a question that keeps plaguing me: where is our Test team going?

The fact that many of our stars are ageing has been very well documented on The Roar in the past.

There are some obvious candidates such as Chris Rogers, Brad Haddin and Ryan Harris, who will probably retire in the next 12 to 18 months.

Add to that Mitchell Johnson, who might find his ageing body struggling to bowl 150-plus missiles in two years time, and Shane Watson, whose selection luck will probably eventually run out.

We could have a very different looking Test team come 2016.

The most promising aspect about our future is that we probably have the best ready-made quiver of devastating fast bowlers in the world.

I’m going to bluntly say it now that Jackson Bird should be the leader of the Australian attack in 2016.

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I already think he’s one of our best. Selectors have been desperately searching the country far and wide for the next Shane Warne and seem to have almost forgotten that our next Glenn McGrath is bashing on their door.

Bird is tall, has impeccable line and length and attacks the stumps with incredible consistency.

He has been held back by some untimely injuries, but possesses the best first class record of all the current quicks. He has taken 115 wickets from only 24 matches, has an average of 20.48 and possesses and unbelievable strike rate of 41.6.

My next two favourite quicks for the team of 2016 were born only four days apart and share the same name. James Faulkner and James Pattinson are extremely talented individuals and will hopefully be regulars in our Test team for the best part of the next decade.

Faulkner currently averages 23.16 with the ball and strikes at 46.2, while Pattinson averages 24.19 and has a strike rate of 45.7. Both men are also no mugs with the bat either and are already racking up valuable international experience.

These guys are my big three of the future.

Peter Siddle has been great but I don’t see him lasting much longer in the Test side – there are simply better fast bowlers around now.

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If any of my big three were to stumble however, there will be a big pool of fine fast bowlers preying on any opportunity.

Mitchell Starc has had fantastic short-form success, but is yet to prove he’s cut out for Tests. Pat Cummins will hopefully eventually stop his horrid run of injuries and we might see more of the debut brilliance he produced in South Africa a few years ago.

There’s much to like about the rest too, which could include Jason Behrendorff, Josh Hazelwood, Ben Cutting, Trent Copeland and Chadd Sayers.

In terms of spinners, the selectors badly need to stick with Nathan Lyon for a while and give a tweaker a decent chance to shine in the post-Warne era. Ashton Agar, James Muirhead and Steve O’Keefe are lurking though.

The question of who will be wielding the willow in Australia’s top six in two years time is almost anyone’s guess though.

Unlike the plethora of bowlers we seem to have at the moment, there aren’t many domestic batsmen thumping on the door of Test selection.

Man of the season Marcus North is now out of the contest as a result of his reasonably early retirement, and I have question marks hanging over Phil Hughes.

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Hughes has arguably been the best batsman in the Shield over the past few seasons and averages higher than pretty much all his competitors. I’m waiting to see if he has the ability to convert domestic form into bulk international runs when he comes up against smarter attacks, who will once again attempt to exploit his technique flaws.

Usman Khawaja is in a similar category to Hughes. He has been tried and failed at Test level but reminded us once again of his great potential this season with his match winning 182 not out against South Australia.

I recently wrote a column for The Roar as to why Glenn Maxwell should play Test cricket and possibly take the number six spot.

The other three batsmen Cricket Australia need to be keeping a close eye on in the next few years are Nic Maddinson, Jordan Silk and Chris Lynn.

I first saw Maddinson play as a ten-year-old and he was already playing straight drives along the ground for four. The guy was a child cricketing genius. He’s been touted by all sorts of critics as one of the best young talents in Australia ever since he debuted for New South Wales at 18. Let’s hope he finds more consistency in his game and starts to dominate the Shield.

Silk and Lynn are still very inexperienced on the domestic scene but already have impressive centuries next to their name. Silk is building a reputation for being one of the best fielders in Australia and Lynn certainly shined in BBL04.

In regards to players like Shaun Marsh, Alex Doolan and George Bailey – sorry boys but I think there’s greater talent on the way. Besides, Marsh has a greater duck per centage in Test matches than Glenn McGrath.

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The 2016 Australian Test team could look quite different to now but has very bright prospects. Here are my picks:

David Warner
Phil Hughes
Steve Smith (VC)
Michael Clarke (C)
Nic Maddinson
Glenn Maxwell
Sam Whiteman (WK)
James Faulkner
James Pattinson
Nathan Lyon
Jackson Bird

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