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Like more than a few of you, I was surprised to hear Nathan Lyon and Chris Lynn had been left out of the first Australian one-day squad of the summer, named on Monday.
All the right noises were being made about seeing Lyon in the coloured gear this summer, especially with the team heading to the World Twenty20 in India in March and April. And if there’s a batsman in Australia currently striking the ball better than Lynn, well they’re not playing at a televised level.
Rather staggeringly though, neither were named in the 13-man squad for the first three ODIs against India, starting next week in Perth, followed by Brisbane and Melbourne.
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Predictably, the CA statement spoke of the inclusion of “exciting” young left-armer Joel Paris, why Test squad member Scott Boland “deserves this chance at the top level,” and how nearly 14 months since his last ODI, Kane Richardson is now “ready to perform consistently” at international level.
Great, yet another press release that says a lot of things without actually saying anything.
Why no Lyon, what more does he have to do? Matthew Wade, really? And is Shane Watson done at international level? We could only but guess the answers.
Fortunately, my trip back from Sydney coincided with a full morning’s cricket coverage from ABC Grandstand, even if there was precious little cricket being played.
And while their coverage of covers going on and off at the SCG was surprisingly entertaining, the guests they managed to wrangle into the commentary box during the very wet morning session were quite informative.
The most enlightening of all was national selection panel member Trevor Hohns, who along with Mark Waugh, NSP chairman Rod Marsh, and Australian coach Darren Lehmann, were responsible for putting together the ODI squad.
Interestingly, the first admission Hohns made was that away from what he termed “a core group of players”, we are indeed trialling new players with an eye toward the next Cricket World Cup.
Which, yes, is more than three years away.
But one of the first and deliberately instructive things he said was that this squad was just for the first three games in the five-game ODI series. And, furthermore, that the location of these first three games was a major factor in the selection of this squad.
For example, the first two games, in Perth and Brisbane, were the primary reason Josh Hazlewood was included in the squad. He will almost certainly sit out the remaining ODIs, reading between the lines, but Hohns had to concede that Hazlewood’s durability this summer was both surprising and pleasing for the NSP, given they had suggested not long ago that he wouldn’t be able to play all six Tests.
This theme continued on when addressing the omission of Lyon.
“The location of the first couple of games, we would only play one spinner, and that’s probably a spinning allrounder,” Hohns said. “Glenn Maxwell, you’d probably have to acknowledge, has done a pretty good job taking care of the spin bowling when it’s required.
“It possibly is [a risk not playing a frontline spinner], but I go back to where we’re playing the first couple of games, in particular. And we might find for the last couple of game there will be another spinner included; we haven’t discussed that as yet, but the opportunity may be there to introduce another spinner.”
That last statement is the kicker, and provides a strong hint that Lyon is likely to play in the final ODIs against India, on the slower Manuka Oval wicket in Canberra, and at the SCG.
“He’s a serious contender [for the WT20], because where we are going and where it’s being played, we will obviously need a couple of spinners,” Hohns told Gerard Whateley and Simon Katich.
It was similarly encouraging news for Lynn, with Hohns confirming that he’s on both the 50 and 20-over selectorial radar.
“Very much so. He’s really putting his name forward too, not just for T20, but for one-day cricket as well, and once again, there may be an opportunity later in the one-day series to have a look at somebody like that.”
As with Lyon, Lynn also appears in line for an appearance later in the India series, for what would be his ODI debut. On Australian wickets, with the ball coming onto him nicely, I’m sure he’ll do very well in this current vein of form. But I wonder if his vastly inferior T20 record on the subcontinent and in the Caribbean might work against him when it comes to the WT20?
Wicketkeeper Matthew Wade has won the first opportunity to succeed Brad Haddin, but Hohns made it clear that the Victorian gloveman shouldn’t take his selection for granted, mentioning the form keeper-bat of the BBL (getting bowled by Xavier Doherty notwithstanding), and a very promising young gun from the west:
“Yeah, Tim Paine has been very good this summer, hasn’t he,” Hohns said. “He fell by the wayside a little bit last year, I think, but his form this year has been outstanding. Sam Whiteman, earlier in the season was as well, so we’ve got a couple there who will keep the pressure on ‘Wadey’.”
And what of Shane Watson? It was far from the glowing endorsement coming from a national selector:
“Well, if we’re talking one-day cricket, his form in the Matador Cup was probably not where he would like it to have been, and certainly not what we’d liked it to have been. If we look at our squad, we’ve got Mitchell Marsh, young bloke; James Faulkner, young bloke; and Glenn Maxwell; we’ve got three allrounders there and we think we’re adequately covered.
“He’s definitely not out of the picture. Like everybody that plays and is available, they’re not out of the picture.”
This might sound promising for the burly allrounder, but Hohns appeared to be singing from a similar songsheet soon after when asked about the evergreen Brad Hogg.
“Once again, we’d never say ‘never’, but we may well move on from there I think.”
The WT20, then, seems Watson’s best chance for a national team swansong, with Hohns confirming, “with his experience over there, and he performs pretty well over there as well, so he’s a definite contender, put it that way.”
After that, though, Watson’s name and the phrase, “we’d never say ‘never’” might suddenly become paired up in national selector interviews.
So once again, the real story with the selection of an Australian team was not what was initially said, but what was subsequently explained after not being mentioned at all.
And it does, perhaps, appear as though the selectors are working to a plan for the limited-overs portion of the summer.