Michael Clarke’s career is in limbo. He has all but ruled himself out of this Test series after injuring his hamstring and has conceded he may never play again.
While we all hope he will be able to play again we must find a replacement for at least the rest of this series.
Many names have been thrown up and Shaun Marsh is the favourite while Callum Ferguson, Ed Cowan and Joe Burns have all been touted as possibilities. But one man has been forgotten and in my opinion he is the best option available to replace Clarke.
This is West Australian skipper Adam Voges. Vogesy has been in career best form this Sheffield Shield season and in his most recent match against Victoria he compiled two tons, the second one unbeaten on 139 in the fourth innings trying to save the game.
Voges sits second on the Sheffield Shield runs scoring table with 509 at an average of 101.80, He has three centuries to his name and one fifty. Also worth noting is the fact that Voges has scored these runs batting at four for Western Australia, the same position Clarke bats.
Those numbers alone suggest that Voges is ready for the Test arena, but furthering his credentials is his vast experience playing around the world. Having played in England and India, Voges also has international experience playing ODIs and T20s for Australia. His vast experience and his leadership would play an important role in helping stand-in skipper Brad Haddin in the absence of Clarke.
Voges is also a handy left arm spinner and would add yet another bowling option to this Australian side. He is also a very good player of spin and played Fawad Ahmed very well in this week’s Shield game.
The one question mark over Voges is his age. At 35 many people would say you are past your best but in recent years Mike Hussey, Chris Rogers and Younus Khan have all succeeded in their late 30s.
My opinion is that Clarke’s replacement should be the best man available, and right now that is Voges.
There are a lot of good young batsman out there such as Burns, Cameron Bancroft, Ryan Carters and Chris Lynn that could benefit from another couple of years playing Shield cricket before being thrown into Test cricket. By Voges playing they would get more time to develop.
I would also make one other change to the Australian team for the Gabba Test by dropping Peter Siddle and bringing in Josh Hazlewood. Siddle looked a yard short of pace and didn’t look like troubling the Indian batsmen and Hazlewood will be much more threatening on a fast bouncy wicket.
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