- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
There are some good players in the India tour squad, but I don’t think the selectors have picked the best team.
I’m pleased Jackson Bird and Glenn Maxwell got in the side. Steve Smith and Peter Handscomb are brilliant.
Matt Renshaw is as promising as hell. An attack consisting of Mitch Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Bird and Nathan Lyon or Steve O’Keefe could cause the Indians some troubles.
Dave Warner and Usman Khawaja have poor track records on the subcontinent but they are class players.
I don’t mind Mitchell Swepson’s selection. Shane Warne’s passions should be taken with a grain of salt after Michael Beer and I feel for Fawad Ahmed but Swepson’s stats aren’t bad and he could be a player for the future.
But they chose badly in some key areas.
1) No back up pacemen
We’ve only got Mitchell Marsh who apparently is no longer a batting all rounder, he’s a bowling all rounder. With 113 first class wickets from 67 games and just one five-for – he’s good enough to be the third seamer?
No one’s denying Mitchell Marsh’s ability to pick up the odd useful wicket but he played 19 Tests and never tore through an attack. Has he ever done it at domestic level?
He doesn’t strike me as ‘Mr Long Spells in the Hot Indian Sun’ either.
If they wanted a bowling all-rounder, James Faulkner’s figures blow Marsh’s out of the water. But really they should’ve taken Sayers or Tremain or Boland or Mennie. They might win (or at least draw) you a game, Michael Kasprowicz style.
Is Mitchell Marsh going to do that?
Marsh’s selection defies common sense. How can they see him genuinely contributing to an Australian victory? Handy change wickets and quick fire twenties are nice, but don’t win you games against the world’s number one side in their own backyard.
So he’s a better bowler that Hilton Cartwright – big deal. His stats have remained remarkably consistent over the years – I can’t see him getting better than what he is – an exciting, erratic first class player and solid one day player. We are not good enough to carry him. Australia have got better since he was dropped.
Marsh’s injury offers a great opportunity for the selectors to fix up their mistake. But I’ve got a feeling that Darren Lehmann is in love and it’s hard to reason with the lovesick.
2) There’s no back up specialist batsman
There’s six specialists, plus Maxwell. We’re going to struggle if two batsmen have poor tours at the same time – there’s no back up option.
It would’ve been a perfect opportunity to blood say a Kurtis Patterson, Travis Head or Jake Lehmann or Hilton Cartwright, or even use a grizzled old campaigner who’s an excellent team man with heaps of experience in India like George Bailey. I fully accept Bailey’s form is never outstanding but he’s a better option in the top six than Mitchell Marsh or Ashton Agar.
Why didn’t they take 17 players? It’s India – the second most important series after the Ashes. Surely they’ve got the money.
My feeling is that the all-rounder lobby within the selection table wanted to increase the chances of bits and pieces representation in the Test side. So they deliberately omitted to take another specialist batsman to make room for Agar and M Marsh.
Honestly, what role do they envision Agar performing in the Test? His typical game involves a useful 25 with the bat, and 2-83 with the ball. He might have a lucky session or two but overall the Indians are going to eat him up with a spoon.
I can’t recall one Test in the last fifty years where a bits and pieces all rounder has made a crucial – as in, make or break – contribution to an Australian victory in a Test match.And we’re taking two of them.
3) Matt Wade
I’ve tried to give him a break. Smith likes him, he’s a cancer survivor, and has presence on the field. Who doesn’t love “nice Gary”?
But he’s not a top keeper. We’ve all seen it. We all know it.
If he’s still this poor after all that time away working on his game, he’s not going to get better. He’s meant to be at his peak now, not a developing article.
I recognise Pete Nevill wasn’t perfect and that Chris Hartley is old. If they didn’t want to go down those routes, after seeing Wade’s performance in the Tests they should have gambled on someone new: Sam Whiteman or Sam Harper.
Wade needs to average 50 to compensate for his keeping, and he’s not that good with the bat. He got away with it in Australia because our batsmen put on massive totals and the bulk of the bowling was done by pacemen, but it’ll be different in India.
There’s no shame in trying a few different keepers before getting Mr Right. Australia did it in that post-Wayne Philips period, when Tim Zoehrer and Greg Dyer were tried before unearthing Ian Healy. Persisting with Wade is waste of time. If we were serious about beating India we’d try someone new, or at least bring a reserve specialist keeper.
4) Lehmann’s ego is back
One of the perks of losing five Tests in a row was that Darren Lehmann went quiet. Four victories on the trot and the old Boof is back – bagging Maxwell for not scoring centuries, responding to Brett Geeves’ criticism of him by bagging Geeves’ playing ability (instead of addressing the criticism), responding to Steve Rixon’s criticism of him by bagging Rixon’s coaching ability, threatening Renshaw with the boot so that Shaun Marsh can get back in the side and publicly pushing for Agar and Mitchell Marsh.
Great players and coaches learn by their mistakes. Has Lehmann? He’s made mileage out of being a better coach than Mickey Arthur. An Indian tour brought Arthur down. Let’s see how Lehmann does.
There are so many genuine variables on this tour. How will Warner and Khawaja fare in India? Will Renshaw suffer a sophomore slump? How will Lyon go? Will Handscomb’s luck eventually run out?
How would Steve O’Keefe fare with a decent run in the side? But three of the spots went to people who don’t deserve it – one of them who is practically guaranteed to pay four Tests.
We do have a chance – if Wade doesn’t drop too many, if they keep the bits and piecers out of the Test team, if we hold our catches and have some good days with the ball. But the selectors have restricted our bench strength.
That’s why I don’t think this selection panel is really serious about winning in India.
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.