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Tremain and Burns should tour South Africa

10th January, 2018
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Australia's Joe Burns (left) with David Warner. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)
Expert
10th January, 2018
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Joe Burns should replace Cameron Bancroft as Australian Test opener, with Chris Tremain picked as a back-up quick ahead of Chadd Sayers for next month’s Test tour of South Africa.

Bancroft was given five Tests on fantastic batting tracks against a limp, one-dimensional England attack and still could only muster 179 runs at an average of 25.

Given the way England’s quicks exposed his weakness against fuller deliveries on and around off stump, it’s hard to imagine Bancroft could improve on those numbers against a vastly-better Proteas attack on juicier pitches.

At just 25 years old, Bancroft has plenty of time to refine his technique and return to Tests in the future as a more-rounded batsman. Burns is the obvious choice to replace him.

The 28-year-old was shown very little patience by the selectors last year, dumped twice in a matter of months, despite averaging 38 across his first 13 Tests.

First he was axed in Sri Lanka after making 34 runs from four knocks across the first two Tests of that series. Then he was recalled to replace the injured Shaun Marsh against South Africa in Hobart, only to be dropped for Matt Renshaw the following Test.

Burns took this poor treatment in his stride, returned to Queensland and has since hit 1068 runs at 46 in the Shield. It’s easy to forget it’s only three Tests ago for Burns since he was man-of-the-match in a rousing Test victory in New Zealand.

He made 170 and 65 in that Test in Christchurch against a full-strength Kiwi attack of Trent Boult, Neil Wagner, Tim Southee and Matt Henry.

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Up to that point, Burns had made a dominant start to his Test career, piling up 838 runs at a tick under 50 from ten Tests, including three tons. His resilience in the face of being harshly dumped twice was impressive and is another reason he should be given first crack at taming the Proteas pace attack.

Australia's Joe Burns, left, and David Warner, right

(AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

The two reserve batsmen positions should go to a pair who know Burns’ pain in Glenn Maxwell and Peter Handscomb. They, too, have been on the receiving end of some tough calls by the Test selectors in recent times.

The most controversial choice in my 15-man squad is Tremain over Sayers.

The South Australian swing merchant has been the most consistently effective bowler in the Sheffield Shield for the past five years. Not only has he excelled in the Shield, with 218 career wickets at 23, but he’s also flourished when picked for Australia A, taking 28 wickets at 25.

I found it hard to choose between Sayers and Bird. But that was the choice that needed to be made, as the Australian squad would lack variety if both of those men were selected. The generous success of the Australian Test attack across different conditions in the past year was the result of how well balanced it was.

Mitchell Starc offers a left arm angle and swings the ball, Josh Hazlewood targets the top of off stump ceaselessly, Pat Cummins intimidates with vicious short balls, and Nathan Lyon ties it all together with his accurate spin.

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Bird and Sayers are suited to performing the Hazlewood role, while the much quicker and more aggressive Tremain could better fill in for Cummins or Starc.

The 26-year-old Victorian is 193cm tall, which helps him get sharp bounce, and was clocked at up to 148kmh during his debut ODI series in SA in 2016.

With James Pattinson and Nathan Coulter-Nile battling injuries, Tremain is the most dynamic first-class quick outside of the Test XI. Tremain isn’t quite as swift as Starc or Cummins, but he is the best part of 10kmh faster than Bird or Sayers.

And it’s not just pace and bounce which Tremain has going for him. He’s also a natural swing bowler, and boasts good precision, giving up just 3.07 runs per over in his first-class career.

In mid-2016 Tremain took seven wickets at 23 for Australia A in two red-ball matches a strong South Africa A line-up including Dean Elgar, Temba Bavuma and Vernon Philander.

Most importantly, Tremain’s been as effective as Sayers over the past three Sheffield Shield seasons, taking 100 wickets at 20, compared to Sayers’ return of 115 wickets at 22.

Australia, of course, will hope that none of these back-up bowlers are needed – their hopes of beating the Proteas will rely heavily on their first-choice attack staying fit.

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My 15-man Australia Test squad for South Africa
1. David Warner (vc)
2. Joe Burns
3. Usman Khawaja
4. Steve Smith (c)
5. Shaun Marsh
6. Mitch Marsh
7. Tim Paine (wk)
8. Pat Cummins
9. Mitchell Starc
10. Nathan Lyon
11. Josh Hazlewood

Reserves
12. Chris Tremain
13. Jackson Bird
14. Glenn Maxwell
15. Peter Handscomb

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