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Henriques, Behrendorff and Shaun Marsh should go to Champions Trophy

17th April, 2017
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Moises Henriques should be on the plane to the Champions Trophy. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
Expert
17th April, 2017
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Shaun Marsh, Jason Behrendorff and Moises Henriques should be selected in Australia’s Champions Trophy ODI squad to head to England next month.

Marsh and Usman Khawaja are the best options to partner David Warner at the top of the order, while Australia should overlook leg spinner Adam Zampa and play to their strengths by fielding a pace-heavy attack.

Zampa made a wonderful start to his ODI career but his form has tapered off to the point that he’s taken just nine wickets at an average of 49 in his past nine matches.

With Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood automatic selections in Australia’s starting line-up, in order to squeeze in Zampa the selectors would need to drop one of Pat Cummins or James Faulkner, both of whom have been in fine touch.

The tournament will be played in England, where Cummins has a very good record in ODIs, having taken 13 wickets at 22 from six matches.

During Australia’s last ODI series in England, 19 months ago, the young Australian quick was in my opinion the player of the series. Cummins haul of 12 wickets at 19 was particularly brilliant when you consider that England’s six pacemen used in that series combined for only 15 wickets at 44.

Batting at 10, behind Starc and Faulkner, Cummins also offers Australia enviable strength in their tail. Faulkner is not the dominant number eight he once was, but he has improved as an ODI bowler as I wrote recently.

Over his past two years of ODIs, Faulkner has averaged 27 with the ball and has gone at 5.33rpo, a solid economy rate for someone who does a lot of work in the final ten overs of innings.

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With the swing of Starc, unrelenting accuracy of Hazlewood, hostility of Cummins and changes of pace of Faulkner, Australia will have the best and most varied pace attack at the Champions Trophy.

They will then be able to share ten overs between all-rounders Travis Head, Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell, who I would bat at four, five and six respectively.

The injury to quality ODI all-rounder Mitch Marsh has opened the door for Stoinis. The Victorian produced one of the all-time great individual performances in an ODI in Australia’s last series, smashing 146no from 177 balls to go with figures of 3-49 from ten overs.

As the reserve batting all-rounder I’d pick NSW captain Moises Henriques, who is coming off a dominant Sheffield Shield season as well as a commanding Matador Cup, in which he made 414 runs at 69.

There is a case to be made that Henriques or Shaun Marsh should be in the top six ahead of the cavalier Maxwell. That change should be made if Maxwell fails to fire early in the tournament. But he is the very definition of a match-winner and has a fantastic record at limited overs tournaments, having been named in the Team of the Tournament at both the 2015 World Cup and the 2014 World T20.

With his incredible fielding, handy off spin and rare ability to destroy quality attacks, Maxwell is worth the punt. So, too, is Usman Khawaja. The elegant left hander has underwhelmed so far in his brief ODI career, averaging just 31 from 18 matches.

The choice of who should open with Warner is a toss-up between Khawaja and Shaun Marsh, who has averaged 40 with the bat in his past 20 ODIs.

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Either batsman would be a nice foil for Warner. Australia also have the option of opening with Head. The 23-year-old came of age this summer, smashing 474 runs at 53 from ten matches and steadily improving as a bowler.

Head clearly enjoys having time to build an innings so his best spot is somewhere in the top four. I’d have him at four behind first drop Steve Smith and openers Warner and Khawaja.

Behind Stoinis and Maxwell, at fix and six, wicketkeeper Matt Wade has shown the flexibility to either rebuild the innings after a collapse or capitalise on a strong platform with an aggressive cameo.

Wade has been in fantastic form with the blade in ODIs, making 537 runs at 38 from his past 20 matches. Among that haul have been a raft of crucial knocks – four times in that period he has top-scored for Australia, including a match-winning 100no against Pakistan when the home team had slumped to 5-78.

This is the starting XI and 15-man squad I would pick for the Champions Trophy.
1. David Warner
2. Usman Khawaja
3. Steve Smith
4. Travis Head
5. Marcus Stoinis
6. Glenn Maxwell
7. Matt Wade
8. James Faulkner
9. Mitchell Starc
10. Pat Cummins
11. Josh Hazlewood

Reserves
12. Adam Zampa
13. Shaun Marsh
14. Moises Henriques
15. Jason Behrendorff

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