The World Cup is the premier cricketing competition on earth. It is the only instance every cricketing nation in the world comes together to compete on equal terms in the same tournament.
The players selected must be able to carry the weight of the country on their shoulders and perform in high pressure games against the classiest players in the world, the modern greats: Hashim Amla, Kumar Sangakkara, AB de Villers, Virat Kohli, Brendon McCullum.
I’m looking at two bowlers in the World Cup squad, Patrick Cummins and Xavier Doherty, who have no right to be there while their respective pace and spin superiors, Ryan Harris and Nathan Lyon, bide their time elsewhere.
Cummins picked up seven wickets in a one-off Test match three years ago, got injured, and has done little since. Great potential, sure, but does he really have the right to replace our valiant warhorse and proven match winner Ryno, who bowled us to an away series victory in South Africa and home victories against England and India in the last two years?
Cummins’ pace and poor control will be a liability as the top batsmen will use his pace to guide balls to the boundary in the power overs and death.
The excuse that Ryno is saving his knees for the Ashes later on is ludicrous. The Ashes, an antiquated quirk of history, pales in comparison to the World Cup. The World Cup represents cricket as the second-most popular sport in the world thanks in large part to the subcontinental teams.
It is the here and now. Like it or not, limited overs cricket is the most globally relevant format in 2015. Ryno should have been prepared to put it all on the line for tight middle over spells, key wickets and glory at this tournament.
Doherty has done the job for Australia during a dry patch of spinners in recent years. However, Nathan Lyon has proved himself capable of taking top-order wickets against the biggest cricketing nations in the Test arena. He has bowled to De Villers, Amla, Kohli and worked to try to prise their wicket away through flight and guile. His craft has been developing on the international stage for years now.
Hell, even Brad Hogg should have got a look in over Doherty.
Cricket Australia have an infuriating policy of earmarking certain bowlers, almost on an arbitrary basis, as exclusively ODI or Test bowlers. South Africa does not do this. Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, and Vernon Philander head up their attack in both Tests and ODIs. They are their nation’s best bowlers, full stop. The games are not so different. A bowler’s job is to take wickets and contain runs in between, no matter what the format.
It makes me angry, almost to the point of having to turn off the TV when Australia is fielding. After Mitchell Starc and Mitchell Johnson finish their spells, there are no more of our first-rate bowlers in the side. We are having to rely too heavily on our medium pace all-rounders, Shane Watson and Mitch Marsh, who lack the penetration against the world’s best batsmen.
If we win the toss, we’re better off batting second at this World Cup, for that’s where our class players are. It’s in their hands to win matches.
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