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Cartwright should play, but not for Khawaja

30th August, 2017
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Hilton Cartwright. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)
Roar Guru
30th August, 2017
60
1246 Reads

With Usman Khawaja’s double failure in the first Test, I’ve seen calls from some for him to be dropped for the second Test because he just seems to have issues he just can’t overcome, while others just can’t see how he could be dropped so quickly while others get so many more chances.

However, with the injury to Josh Hazlewood throws a spanner in the works for some, I am actually thinking that it throws up an interesting possibility.

It’s hard to see Bangladesh throwing up anything but a very similar pitch for the second Test as we’ve seen for the first. It will likely be dry, with nothing for the fast bowlers, and take spin from the first morning.

In those sorts of conditions a bowler like Josh Hazlewood struggles for any real way to meaningfully contribute anyway. If a fast bowler is going to succeed, it’s likely to be through pace and swing, much like Starc did in Sri Lanka.

Pat Cummins is the man for that. Hazlewood, while a fine bowler and definitely wanted for the Ashes, had little impact here and likely wouldn’t have had in the second Test had he played that either. However, he’s been such a key player for Australia that the idea of dropping him, even in conditions that really don’t suit him, is one the selectors are unlikely to ever make.

As such, his injury may be an opportune one. It allows the selectors to make a call they would be unlikely to make otherwise.

That selection is to go in with only one frontline pace bowler in Pat Cummins. For most this would mean the selection of a third frontline spinner, either by selecting Mitcell Swepson or slotting Steve O’Keefe straight in as he’s just been picked to head over there.

However, I would be tempted to go a different route.

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(Image: AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)

In conditions where the spinners bowl such a massive percentage of the overs, if you do pick three frontline spinners, you tend to find the third spinner doesn’t bowl a lot of overs. Just one look at the current Test match shows that Lyon bowled 30 overs to Ashton Agar’s 12.5 in the first innings, and 34 overs to Agar’s 20 in the second. Maxwell bowled just five overs in each innings.

So even between the first two spinners there’s a big discrepancy. Looking at Bangladesh, who picked more frontline spinners and went with only one pace bowler, their top two bowlers bowled 26 and 25 overs respectively, and the next most overs for a bowler was eight

In pace bowling-friendly conditions you don’t get those sorts of discrepancies, but in these conditions you can leave your best spinners on for really long spells and just don’t need to go to third and fourth spin options except for the odd change up.

As such, if faced with similar conditions, as I expect them to be, I’d be tempted to put Hilton Cartwright into the team, but not in place of Usman Khawaja. I’d have him replacing Hazlewood as the only selection change to the team. That gives Australia two frontline spinners to bowl the bulk of the overs; one pace bowler to bowl short, sharp spells and try to get some reverse swing; one spinning all-rounder; and one medium pace all-rounder to bowl a short spell or two hear and there.

That’s really all the bowling attack you need in those conditions because your first two spinners can bowl so many overs – and you don’t need to worry about them being too tired for the next Test as there isn’t another one. You just don’t need as many frontline bowlers.

That would really strengthen the batting line up – Wade at eight, Agar at nine, Cummins at ten becomes a very deep batting line up, and I don’t believe it’s sacrificing the chance of taking 20 wickets at all.

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So my line-up for the second Test would be David Warner, Matt Renshaw, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, Peter Handscomb, Glenn Maxwell, Hilton Cartwright, Matthew Wade, Ashton Agar, Patt Cummins and Nathan Lyon.

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