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Is it time to ditch James Faulkner?

David Warner and James Faulkner helped Australia to victory in the ODI against NZ. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
Roar Pro
26th June, 2016
23

During the 12 months between July 2014 and June 2015, without a doubt James Faulkner was one of Australia’s most valuable cricketers in the ODI set up.

The third highest wicket-taker behind Mitchell Starc and Mitchell Johnson with 24 wickets at an average of a tick over 30 from 30 matches was a decent return from a medium fast bowler, and to go with that he had a handy economy rate of 5.16 per over and a batting average of 38.5, which marked him out as a true all-rounder.

He was a star performer during the World Cup, with ten wickets from his six matches at an average of 19 and an economy rate of 4.7 – Faulkner’s control and knack for taking key wickets was vital to Australia’s victory and he played an important support role to Starc’s aggression.

However, in the past 12 months, his form has slumped so poorly that he can no longer be considered an automatic selection for the ODI team, and barring a number of injuries to other key fast bowlers, it is unlikely he would be commanding a place in the current set up.

Since July first 2015, Faulkner has only taken ten wickets from his ten matches at an inflated average of 47.5 and an economy rate of 5.93. His batting has also slumped, having made only 64 runs at an average of 21 in the same time period.

Could it be that the world’s batsmen have figures out his ‘cunning variations’? His off cutters and back of the hand slower balls are no longer surprising batsmen into giving their wickets away or wasting free hits.

When you consider that in the same time period, many other fast bowlers or pace bowling all-rounders have stepped up for the ODI side and performed significantly better, one can only conclude that he should be seriously looking over his shoulder.

Mitchell Marsh has finally started to fulfill his promise and is arguably more important to the ODI side now than Faulkner. His 19 wickets at 34 in the past 12 months combined with 541 runs at 49 are far more significant than Faulkner’s returns, although Faulkner has been out injured so only played half the amount of games.

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In the same 12 month period, other fast bowlers have also stepped up – consider John Hastings who has taken 16 wickets at 26 in nine games, or Pat Cummins who took 14 wickets at 18 in his six games.

Nathan Coulter Nile, who is currently battling Faulkner for a spot in the ODI team, has much better figures than him with ten wickets at 20.7 in his five games for Australia, which makes you think Faulkner is currently in the side on reputation and past exploits alone, not on current form.

If you had all options fit and you were asked to pick a first choice bowling line up for the ODI side, I’d wager many a soul would be picking a few other blokes ahead of Jimmy Faulkner.

Personally, I would have an attack of Starc, Hazlewood, Zampa and Hastings, with Pat Cummins and Coulter Nile as back-ups. You could also consider a second spinner in Nathan Lyon or another out and out quick with a future – Joel Paris – as an option, depending on the conditions. All of these bowlers I would pick ahead of Faulkner.

It seems to be a perpetual reality that the Australian cricket team has two or three first choice quick bowlers off the park injured, so it is handy to have a stable of 6-7 ready to step into the ODI team when needed. The likes of Kane Richardson and Jason Behrendorff could also be around such a stable in the future as their young bodies mature and they continue to have success at domestic level, putting pressure on the underperforming Faulkner.

His value as an all-rounder is seriously diminished by his poor recent returns, and with Mitch Marsh at 6, and Maxwell at 5, you already have two very good fifth and sixth bowling options who are great batsmen, so you don’t need one of your four front line bowlers to be anything more than a big hitting tail-ender (which pretty much all of them are).

It seems your fortunes in cricket can turn around quite quickly unfortunately. Where 12 months ago we were all debating whether or not Faulkner should be included in the Test team ahead of Mitch Marsh or as a front line bowler, now we are questioning his position in the ODI team.

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I hope for his sake and for the Aussie ODI team he can turn around his form soon, because he is such a passionate and exciting cricketer when at his best, but the team cannot afford to carry passengers and if he doesn’t start pulling his weight, he could find himself missing the next ODI tour.

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