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Burns and Nevill the best options to replace retiring stars

Joe Burns must be taken serious by Australian selectors. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)
Expert
19th May, 2015
80
1686 Reads

Joe Burns and Peter Nevill should replace the retiring pair of Chris Rogers and Brad Haddin in the Australia Test and ODI sides respectively.

Rogers and Haddin in the past few days both announced their intentions to retire, the former from Test cricket after the Ashes and the latter from ODIs, effective immediately.

Neither decision came as a surprise, with both players set to turn 38 years old this year. They will, however, leave sizeable holes in the Australian teams, particularly Rogers.

The veteran opener has been a key element of Australia’s dramatic resurgence in Test cricket over the past 18 months. Rogers’ calm and experience in blunting the new ball, together with his steady accumulation, has perfectly complemented the more expansive and unpredictable strokeplay of David Warner.

It has been reported that Rogers has been more than just a good on-field fit for Warner, having also played a mentor-type role for the bombastic batsman. Their partnership has been a source of great strength for the Australians as they have once again become an elite Test team.

By the time he bows out, Rogers will have given Australia two years of solid service. His selection for the 2013 Ashes in England was unexpected. The professional manner in which he has gone about his cricket has not been.

Rogers was given a second crack at Test cricket, in part because there were few other options. Not much has changed. There is only one viable choice to replace Rogers – the fluent Queensland opener Burns.

The 25-year-old was fiercely unlucky to be overlooked for Australia’s 17-man squad for the upcoming Test tours of the West Indies and England. Burns cracked 124 runs in Australia’s last Test against India in Sydney.

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An impressively versatile batsman, he did that while batting at six. Burns has floated around batting orders across his first-class career but has now settled, and flourished, as an opener.

He has 3479 runs at 43, including eight centuries, across his first-class career. Over the past two Shield seasons he has been a standout for the Bulls, creaming 1357 runs at 50. Burns has earned the right to replace Rogers.

Some people last summer were advocating a return to the baggy green of veteran Ed Cowan. The left hander was in phenomenal touch in the Shield before Christmas but his form waned in the second half of the season and, most relevantly, he will be 34 years old by the time Rogers steps down.

Australia are in need of generational change and openers like Burns, Cameron Bancroft and Jordan Silk are the next wave. Unlike Burns, however, who has strung together a long sequence of form, both Bancroft and Silk still need another good domestic season to fully prove themselves.

One man who has little to prove is Nevill. The New South Welshman is Australia’s Test keeper-in-waiting and also deserves the first shot at replacing Haddin in the ODI setup. Nevill is fresh from an incredibly prolific Shield campaign and was also the Blues’ leading runscorer in the domestic 50-over competition.

His career List A record is admittedly ordinary but I like the stability of having the same keeper in ODIs and Tests. Nevill clearly has the talent to justify an ODI selection so why not give him the opportunity to prove himself in both of the longer formats?

It is Victorian Matthew Wade who appears to be the frontrunner to take over from Haddin, after standing in for him last Australian summer. Wade is a powerful strokemaker but his keeping remains below international standard.

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There is, of course, no shortage of other options. Queensland gloveman Chris Hartley is perennially overlooked for higher honours. He is the best pure gloveman in the nation and had a prolific summer with the blade. What holds him back is that he turns 33 next week.

Australia need to build their ODI team with a focus on the Champions Trophy in two-and-a-half years’ time. Considering that, Hartley’s age will count against him.

Tasmanian Brad Dunk bolted into the frame last summer with his record-smashing 229 not out in the domestic 50-over competition. He, too, would be a worthy selection and has only recently turned 28. Though I’m not convinced though that his glove work is as neat as Nevill’s.

The New South Welshmen should be next in line for both the Test and ODI teams, joining Burns as a fresh face in the national setup.

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