- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
While Australia’s Test team floundered in Sri Lanka, several emerging players pushed their cases for selection as Australia A comfortably beat South Africa A 2-0 in their red-ball series.
All-rounder Marcus Stoinis, batsmen Kurtis Patterson, Peter Handscomb, Matt Renshaw and Cameron Bancroft, and bowlers Joe Mennie and Mitchell Swepson all shone against a South African team stacked with Test players.
It was not a proper A side for South Africa, boasting nine cricketers who have played Tests, including seven players South Africa used in their most recent Test series – batsmen Dean Elgar, Stephen Cook, Temba Bavuma and Stiaan van Zyl, plus seamers Vernon Philander and Hardus Viljoen, and spinner Dane Piedt.
For Australia to have won so easily against a side with this much talent and Test experience is a good sign of the depth building in its first-class ranks.
The success of their batsmen will have been particularly pleasing for Australia, who for years suffered from a dearth of young, long-form batting talent.
Renshaw (20 years old), Patterson (23), Bancroft (23), Handscomb (25) and Stoinis (26) each finished in the top-nine runscorers in last year’s Sheffield Shield competition.
Queenslander Renshaw is known for his patience and circumspection, yet he unfurled some belligerent, Matthew Hayden-esque strokes amid a knock of 94 in the first match at Allan Border Field in Brisbane.
A similarly level-headed opener, Bancroft made 165 runs at 55 against South Africa A. The West Australian also had a fine A series in Chennai last year, with 224 runs at 75 on dusty, turning pitches against former Indian Test spinners Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha.
Bancroft was set to make his Test debut as a replacement for the injured David Warner in Bangladesh last year, before the series was cancelled.
Patterson has not been spoken of widely as a Test candidate, although that may change after his fine A series. The New South Welshman was the leading runscorer, with 222 runs at 74, including three half centuries from four knocks.
A versatile player, Patterson batted three in the first game, opened in the second match, and has played in the middle order before for the Blues. With just under 2000 runs at 42, he has made a great start to his first-class career.
While Renshaw, Bancroft and Patterson are all likely to compete for top-order Test berths in the coming years, Handscomb shapes as perhaps Australia’s best middle-order option.
He has cracked almost 1700 runs at 48 in first-class cricket the past two years, including seven centuries. The timing of his latest hundred, 137 in the second A fixture, could scarcely have been any better given the goings on in Sri Lanka.
Handscomb is a quality player of spin, with his former coach Greg Shipperd rating him second only to Michael Clarke in this regard among recent Australian batsmen.
Australia’s Test top five was set in stone leading into the series in Sri Lanka, but following their calamitous batting in the first two Tests, media reports suggest it could be shaken up. All-rounder Mitch Marsh’s place must also be in doubt, as his long run-drought continues.
There is significant pressure being applied to Australia’s batsmen by the aforementioned youngsters, as well as by South Australian strokemaker Travis Head, who this week was rushed to Sri Lanka ahead of the third Test, which starts in Colombo on Saturday.
However, Darren Lehmann told the media Head was not going to play.
“We see him as a really exciting young player for the future,” the Australian coach said. “Give him as much experience around, one, our Test group and, two, our one-day group as we possibly can.”
It seems Head is on the fast track to Test selection, although if one of Australia’s top five was dropped now it likely would be reserve batsman Shaun Marsh who would take their place.
Media reports have suggested the elder Marsh could replace either opener Joe Burns or first drop Usman Khawaja, but the younger, Mitch, deserves to be under greater scrutiny than any other member of Australia’s top six.
Stoinis’ stirling efforts for Australia A will only generate further uncertainty about Marsh’s position as the incumbent Test all-rounder.
Stoinis has made 252 runs at 50 and taken seven wickets at 26 in his four matches the A side – two against South Africa A, and two in Chennai last year. He shapes as a better option at six than Moises Henriques, who is the backup all-rounder in Sri Lanka.
Over the past two years, Stoinis has blossomed as a batsman, making 1700 runs at 45 in first-class cricket. What makes that haul even more impressive is that it has not been amassed in the middle order – Stoinis has batted in the top three for Victoria for most of the past two Shield seasons.
Meanwhile, arguably the best player for Australia A against the Proteas was South Australian seamer Joe Mennie.
Despite having long been a reliable performer for the Redbacks, Mennie rarely has been mentioned as a Test prospect. He managed to force his way into this national team by dominating the Shield last summer, with 51 wickets at 21.
Mennie was both frugal and penetrative against the Proteas, grabbing 12 wickets at 12 and sending a loud message to the national selectors. With Australia’s pace ranks beset by injuries, there may well be generous opportunities for emerging quicks during the six home Tests this summer.
Mennie deserves to be strongly considered.