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David Warner should be dropped from the Australian team if the two-Test tour of Bangladesh goes ahead this August and September.
While Warner is an automatic choice for this summer’s Ashes on his favoured home pitches, he has become a liability on the road, averaging just 23 with the bat across his past three Test tours, in India, Sri Lanka and New Zealand.
If Australia keep the horses-for-courses selection strategy, which saw in-form batsman Usman Khawaja dropped for the Tests in India because of his poor record in Sri Lanka, Warner should not be chosen to play in Bangladesh.
It was reported four months ago that Australia were a strong chance of playing Tests in Bangladesh before the Ashes, and a Cricket Australia spokesperson this week confirmed to me that was still the case.
Australia have not had a Test tour of Bangladesh since 2006 and were scheduled to play two Tests there in October 2015 before they pulled out due to security concerns.
Given England played two Tests and three ODIs in Bangladesh just five months ago with no security concerns, Cricket Australia would be reassured their team will be safe in the country.
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What shouldn’t be safe, if the tour goes ahead, are the positions of Warner and Shaun Marsh, the latter having been picked in India instead of Khawaja because of his fine record in Sri Lanka.
Warner was the worst of the Australian batsmen in India, failing to play a single convincing knock. His only half-century, in the final Test, was a very scratchy innings during which he was dropped on zero. This follows on from his similarly poor efforts last year in Sri Lanka, where he averaged 27 and failed to show the leadership badly needed by an inexperienced and floundering batting line-up.
The biggest issue with Warner’s batting in Asia is that he has not shown any improvement. In particular, he has been unable or unwilling to bat for time and scrap hard for every run, as is often needed on slow, dry Asian pitches against quality spinners.
Warner, quite simply, has failed to adapt to the conditions.
Meanwhile, the likes of Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Peter Handscomb and Matt Wade all reined in their attacking instincts in India in recognition of the tougher batting conditions. That Maxwell, considered one of Australia’s most aggressive and unorthodox batsmen, was able to do this reflects poorly on Warner.
During their tour of India, Australia relied heavily on Smith but they also got some encouraging batting performances from Handscomb, Wade, Maxwell and Matt Renshaw. The two abject failures, Warner and Marsh, should be replaced if Australia tour Bangladesh.
Despite their impressive series in India, Australia would still be vulnerable against Bangladesh, a vastly improved side, who last year drew 1-1 at home with England.
In place of Warner and Marsh, Australia should pick two out of Khawaja, Hilton Cartwright and Kurtis Patterson. While I still have serious concerns about Khawaja’s timid approach against spin on dry tracks, it would be harsh to again leave him out of the line-up if two spots opened up.
It was one thing to omit Khawaja in India in favour of Marsh, who had a far superior Test record in Asia. But it would not make sense to pick an untried batsman in Bangladesh ahead of the classy left-hander.
I would have Khawaja replace Warner at the top of the order, with Cartwright to take Marsh’s middle-order berth. The 25-year-old West Australian all-rounder has the best first-class record of any batsman outside of the Test team, with 1458 runs at an average of 52.
He’s also had back-to-back outstanding Shield seasons. Last summer Cartwright made 408 runs at 68 from his six matches and this summer he built on that, finishing as the second-highest runscorer in the competition, with 861 runs at 54.
Crucially, Cartwright is an impressive player of spin, using his swift, confident footwork to either skip down the wicket or get deep in his crease to cut and pull.
His medium pace is a mere bonus, as Cartwright is a genuine frontline batsman, who bats at first drop for WA. With Maxwell at six, Australia would have then six decent bowling options.
Attack leader Mitchell Starc is expected to be fit well in time for this tour, should it go ahead. His return would mean that one of Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon or Steve O’Keefe would need to go out of the line-up, with that choice depending on pitch conditions.
My Australian line-up for proposed Test tour of Bangladesh:
1. Matt Renshaw
2. Usman Khawaja
3. Steve Smith
4. Peter Handscomb
5. Hilton Cartwright
6. Glenn Maxwell
7. Matt Wade
8. Mitchell Starc
9. Steve O’Keefe
10. Nathan Lyon
11. Josh Hazlewood
12. Pat Cummins
13. Kurtis Patterson
14. Ashton Agar