- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
On paper, Doolan’s a dud. In practice, Doolan’s little better. We’re told that on promise, Doolan’s due. Ignore the spin – however you cut it, Doolan must be dropped.
There is no longer good reason to grant Alex Doolan the rights to Australia’s first drop position. Doing so would be a failure of short-term tactics and long-term strategy.
The problem is two-fold: he’s doing little to keep himself in the team, and he’s apparently doing enough to keep Phil Hughes out.
Hughes’ (many) detractors rush to find reasons to keep him out of the team. His successes are dismissed as owing to sub-par bowling performances or unerringly dull pitches. His failures, on the other hand, reveal his deficiencies in technique, in mental fortitude, and even in character.
In boom and in bust, the man can do no right. Doolan may be the only one benefitting from keeping Hughes out of the Australian Test cricket team.
Doolan’s first class record in Australia is paltry. He has passed 50 every four innings. Hughes passes 50 every three.
Of course, the moaners say, the real measure isn’t 50s, but centuries. How many notches are in the belt?
Doolan has 6. Hughes has 26. Doolan converts fewer than a quarter of his 50s into centuries. Hughes converts more than a third of his. Hughes has a greater than 1 in 8 chance of scoring a first-class century every time he dons his pads. Doolan gets 1 in 20.
Hughes averages a full ten runs an innings more than Doolan on the first-class stage. The two are facing the same quality of bowling attack, and Hughes is outperforming him. If Hughes’ run-scoring potential can be dismissed because our domestic bowling stocks are so dismal (a point with little empirical support), or our pitches lack fire (tell that to the English) then on what basis are we selecting Doolan?
Clarke pointed to a century Doolan made against Pakistan A the week before the first Test as evidence that the number three has form behind him, and if the selectors reward him with a little patience, he’ll reward them with a lot of runs.
The problem is, Doolan top scored for Australia in the first innings of that tour match, and Hughes top scored in the second. Doolan has form coming into this Test series, but surely the same can be said of Hughes.
And if we’re selecting our Test batsmen based on their last performance in a tour match, Hughes has every right to wonder when this practice started. After all, Hughes scored a massive 243* against South Africa A in August and wasn’t able to find his way into the current Test tour without injury.
At a few days short of 29, Doolan is short on time to make the cut as a prospect. Historically, this is the time when batsmen are supposed to be performing at their peak of their powers. If this is true, Doolan has little to show for it.
After eight innings in four Tests, Doolan is averaging less than 24, and has only once passed 50. A strike rate of 42 indicates he’s not doing it at much of a clip either.
The incumbent’s defenders will point to a range of reasons why these figures are misleading. Clarke himself defended the batsman this week, suggesting he’s “due”. Maybe. Maybe he hasn’t had enough time to make the position his own. Maybe he’s facing unfavourable pitch conditions. Maybe he has ‘class’, that most elusive of qualities, which seems to appear everywhere except the scorecard.
None of these arguments hold water. Every reason we’re told isn’t important when considering Doolan’s future in the position was vitally important last year when Ed Cowan was dropped. Then, Cowan was failing to convert 50s into big scores, was scratchy, and was keeping better options out of the side.
But on the Test stage Cowan reached 50 every five innings. Doolan’s performance is limp in contrast. Cowan finds himself playing domestic cricket with a higher Test average, higher strike rate, and greater conversion rate than Australia’s number three
The selection decisions of the team’s management and the armchair commentariat reek of hypocrisy. On all the standards Cowan failed, so too has Doolan. On all the reasons Doolan has made the case for selection, Hughes has done the same and more.
Some insist Doolan’s not yet had a chance to prove himself. Doolan is about to hit 29. In his cricketing career to date, Doolan has hit seven centuries across all formats (including the practice match). What are we expecting him to prove?
Hughes has scored 39 centuries across all formats, and he’s three years younger than Doolan. What has he not yet proven?
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.