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Joe Mennie warrants a Test debut in Hobart

Rod Marsh and Boof (AP Photo / Nick Potts, PA)
Roar Guru
8th November, 2016
6

As supporters of the game, how do we want the selectors of any cricket team to decide the final XI?

The answer is very simple: pick the players who are making runs and taking wickets.

There is no real mystery to it, yet logic never seems to prevail.

The Australian cricket team at this moment and time have a player in Mitchell Marsh who no doubt has massive potential. Anyone who can bat at six and bowl overs at a decent pace is a valuable cricketer.

But, let’s be honest here. He hasn’t exactly set the world on fire back at Sheffield Shield level which didn’t prepare him for the tough nature of Test cricket.

Everyone who follows the Australian cricket team believes he should never have been put in the team due to the fact he was still finding his way back at first-class level and the fact he hasn’t contributed enough during his 19 Test matches.

So, if we take anything from Marsh’s case, the public of Australian cricket want you to earn your spot through the means of domestic cricket by making runs or taking wickets.

As we know, Peter Siddle has broken down and isn’t available for selection for the second Test at Hobart against the Proteas.

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South Australian fast bowler, Joe Mennie, was on standby at Perth and will more than likely make his Test debut come Saturday.

Here is a man who was one of the outstanding bowlers of the Sheffield Shield competition last season with 51 wickets, yet I hear people claiming he isn’t the player Australia should be looking to bring in.

Just imagine that. The majority of the Australian public want players to earn their spot through domestic cricket, but Mennie with 51 wickets shouldn’t be in the squad according to some.

This man has earned the right to play a Test match for Australia with his outstanding bowling last season. He’s a player who hasn’t just been given an opportunity for the sake of it. He put in enough consistent performances to warrant a chance and he will be doing everything it takes to make it count.

Anyone who wants to sit there and suggest he doesn’t deserve it is kidding themselves. Here is a case where the selectors actually got it right.

Far too often we see players picked on reputation or potential only.

It really does baffle me that someone who has taken 51 wickets in a season doesn’t deserve to play for his country.

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He hasn’t started this Sheffield Shield season too poorly either. From two games, he has taken six wickets which shows he is looking to back last season up.

Perhaps Mennie’s call up to the ODI squad back in South Africa was a slight shock. His strength certainly is the longer form of the game, which is why his inclusion in Hobart should come as no surprise to anyone if included in the XI – which does look very likely.

He perhaps didn’t have the success in South Africa he would have liked, although it would be unfair to judge him off that particular series. It really was only his first ODI that saw him struggle with figures of 0-82, but he did bounce back with 3-49 in his second ODI.

If his debut doesn’t go to plan then so be it, but the whole idea of Sheffield Shield cricket is to showcase your talent to give yourself the opportunity to represent your nation.

Mennie has done that and the whole of Australia should be right behind him when he makes his likely debut. Here we have a player who has done the hard yards to wear the baggy green and that should be respected.

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