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Steve Smith? Mitchell Johnson? Mitchell Starc? James Faulkner? Who is now Australia’s most valuable ODI player?
There has not been a clearcut holder of this title since all-rounder Shane Watson relinquished it two years ago after dominating ODI cricket for several years.
Over a three-and-a-half year period from October 2009 to Feb 2013, Watson smashed just under 3000 runs at an average of 48 and took exactly one wicket per match at the miserly average of 28. During this golden era of his career he was arguably the best limited overs cricketer on the planet.
A spate of injuries have restricted him to just 24 matches since then, with his batting average dropping to 31 over that time and his medium pacers claiming just nine wickets at 72. Watson remains a match winner on his day but is no longer Australia’s lynchpin. His decline has coincided with the rise of a similarly explosive all-rounder in Faulkner.
After just 37 matches, the 24-year-old Tasmanian already has strong claims to being the best all-rounder in ODI cricket. On the ICC’s ODI all-rounder rankings he is now two spots ahead of Watson. Faulkner’s ranking of seventh does not to justice to his value though.
I would argue he is as effective as the next five players ranked ahead of him – Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi and Mohammed Hafeez, Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan, India’s Ravi Jadeja, and Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan.
The all-rounder ranked number one, Sri Lankan supremo Angelo Mathews, is a wonderful player and a shade more valuable than Faulkner at this stage. Mathews is less of an all-rounder than Faulkner, however, and is used more sparingly with the ball now than he was earlier in his career, taking just 19 wickets from his past 36 matches.
Faulkner’s batting has garnered him the most praise, with his ability to close out run chases for Australia starting to resemble the phenomenal efforts of predecessors Michael Bevan and Mike Hussey.
His batting statistics are astonishing – 720 runs at 45, with the incredible strike rate of 108. Faulkner, of course, is in the side as a bowling all-rounder and his canny efforts with the ball should not be overlooked.
Frequently entrusted with bowling at the death, the left-armer’s clever changes of pace have helped him snare 49 wickets at the respectable average of 33. There is no other bowling all-rounder in Australia who can replicate what Faulkner does. If he were injured and Australia sought a like-for-like replacement perhaps the closest they could get would be Ben Cutting.
While the Queenslander is as talented a 50-over bowler as Faulkner, he is a far more limited batsman. Cutting possesses the same destructive striking but has a questionable defence and minimal finesse. As a batsman, he is an effective slogger but nothing more.
Faulkner’s Australian teammates Johnson and Starc also are gifted lower order batsman. Both are capable of playing decisive innings in coloured clothing. They cannot, however, do so with anything close to the frequency or confidence of Faulkner.
The Tasmanian is leagues behind that pair as a bowler but is now the most important player in regards to Australia’s team balance. His flourishing batting will allow Australia freedom with their line-up in the World Cup.
If neither Glenn Maxwell nor Mitchell Marsh proved the right fit at number six, Faulkner potentially could plug that hole. Such an attacking move would effectively allow Australia to play five frontline bowlers, making room for Johnson and Starc to be paired with spinner Xavier Doherty and one of Josh Hazlewood or Pat Cummins.
But his value at eight goes beyond the runs he scores. The knowledge that they have such a formidable player coming in at the fall of the sixth wicket eases the pressure on Australia’s top seven and allows them to bat aggressively and instinctively.
With Australia hosting the World Cup, home conditions will suit Faulkner perfectly. His career bowling average of 33 is swollen by the phenomenally high-scoring series against India on unbelievably flat pitches in late 2013.
Across 23 matches on more favourable and familiar decks in Australia and England he has grabbed 35 wickets at 29. He has also prospered with the bat in those matches, with just under 400 runs at 37.
This World Cup shapes as Faulkner’s passage not just to Australia’s ODI MVP crown but also back into Test calculations. With an Ashes tour of the horizon, a string of startling World Cup performances could vault him into Australia’s squad for England.