The Australian cricket selectors have picked two 13-man squads for the Twenty20 and the ODI series. The squads are basically the same except for David Warner and Ryan Harris being selected solely for Twenty20 cricket, and Michael Clarke and Peter Siddle for the ODI side only.
Clarke would have been in both sides, and presumably captained the Twenty20 side if he’d not needed some time to recover from a thumb injury. So Ricky Ponting re-takes the captaincy of the Twenty20 side and Clarke remains vice-captain of the ODI side.
It’s time after this series to hand the captaincy of the Australian sides in both the short forms of cricket to Michael Clarke.
There are two main reasons for this: first, Clarke is clearly the heir-apparent for captaincy of the Test side and the experience he gets captaining in the short form of the game will sharpen up his nous and skills for when he gets the Test job.
And second, Ponting is the leading Australian batsman in all forms of cricket and the captain of the Test side and ODI side. He needs to be playing some games, presumably in the ODIs and Twenty20 cricket, just as a batsman, without the strains and concerns of captaining the side.
I’d like to see David Warner get his chance in both short forms of the game. This would mean Shaun Marsh dropping out of the ODI side.
Also, I can’t follow the reasoning of having Cameron White in both the Twenty20 and ODI sides. Perhaps he is part of a Victorian quota.
The other important aspect to emerge from the selection of the two teams is that the selectors say they are are looking into the future of World Tournaments in these two teams. This means that they do not see Matthew Hayden lasting at the top for another couple of years.
But I don’t think this means they have ruled out Hayden for the Ashes series later this year.
Ponting has made it very clear he wants Hayden.
The old pros stick together because sooner or later (later they hope) the calls will come for them to be dropped and they’d like the precedent kept of sticking with the champions no matter how bad their Test form may be.
I see a contest in the next weeks between Hayden, Phil Jacques, and Philip Hughes for two of the three opening positions available on the South African tour. The contest will involve who scores most heavily in the first class matches from now and until the team is selected.
If Hayden scores runs I feel sure that the selectors will stay with him. This is not a selection panel that has shown much flair or daring in its choices to date.
Although Jacques scored a century in his last Test before his back gave out, I think he’s the outsider. Simon Katich really has his spot. If something happened to Katich, then Jacques would replace him, if his form is up to it.
He’d also come into the Test squad if Hayden’s run of outs continued for Queensland.
Hughes seems well-placed to make the South African tour, hopefully to be groomed as Hayden’s successor.
In the rebuilding process that is currently going on with the Australian Test side, there is a compelling case for the selection of a batsman who will be a 10-year Test player.
Hughes is the only contender who can carry that mantle.
He also keeps wickets, which means that he provides a bit of a back-up if Haddin injures a hand during a Test, something that has already happened to him in his brief career in Test cricket.
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