The Australian selectors have chosen what they believe is a winning formula for the World Cup in the sub-continent. Unfortunately, this squad will prompt more questions than answers.
This squad could easily lay claim to being the oldest Australia has ever sent, yet it may be the most underdone. Mike Hussey and Ricky Ponting will go into the Cup without any cricket since January. Shaun Tait has managed two T20s in the past six months and has six more games to find his feet at international level again.
Brett Lee and David Hussey have at least been playing some domestic cricket, but both are making their returns to the international stage after a year out.
The batting line-up is more easily settled than that of the bowlers.
Despite the conjecture surrounding Michael Clarke’s form, he has the numbers in the past year and his career that prove he is a quality one-day batsmen. Only five matches previously he scored an unbeaten century, and averaged 55 in the past year. His spot should have been far more assured than that of David Hussey.
Hussey has not been part of the set-up for over a year, yet suddenly is part of our master plan to win the Cup. His ODI record is very questionable, given he has only managed five 50-plus scores, three of which have come against the West Indies and Scotland.
The non-selection of another batsmen is fraught with danger.
The ‘Anointed One’, Tim Paine, is, on the strength of this squad, the eighth best one-day batsmen in the country. Whilst he has proven himself at the top of the order, injuries or a lack of form during the tournament will prompt a change in the batting order to accommodate Paine, as he is not the man you want coming in at six or seven in an ODI.
Not taking two spinners to the sub-continent is a mistake. You can put good money on Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh playing two spinners on some occasions, and Pakistan is likely to follow suit.
Nathan Hauritz is a proven ODI spinner, and deserves his selection in the squad, but the omission of Doherty for Smith and Hussey is a mistake. Clearly, Hussey’s ability to bowl handy off-spin is the only reason he has secured a berth in this squad, but a domestic record that boasts 32 wickets at 43 in 183 games doesn’t smack of a quality back-up. His bowling on Sunday was pleasing, but surely not the sole factor in his selection.
Similarly, Smith needs to get some more overs under the belt if he’s going to make a difference in the Cup.
In saying this, the five-man pace selection is probably the best combination Australia could have put together. The key to sub-continent pace bowling is an ability to swing the ball, which both Lee and Bollinger possess, as does Johnson on occasion. Johnson, Lee and Bollinger all boast quality records in India.
Tait and the bolter Hastings have virtually no experience in the sub-continent, yet Hastings’ change of pace and bowling nous will be a valuable addition to the squad. The combination of Tait and Lee is a Ponting-tactic that has rubbed off on Clarke; the theory that your opening bowlers will blast out the opposition.
It worked in 2007 and hopefully will do so again.
The selectors have pulled this trick before and got it right. Shaun Tait was an outside selection for the 2007 World Cup, and did not have the greatest domestic summer before going to the World Cup and being a vital part of a winning side. Matthew Hayden was discarded, then brought back for the Cup, and dominated.
Vinay Verma was right when suggesting that untried should not be taken to the World Cup, but as experienced as these boys may be, they’re rusty.
Whiteline
Guest
SPD Smith, the Australian Open is calling....
Keef
Guest
Pick Brad Hodge to replace him! Simple as that.
Keef
Guest
Mike Hussey is 35 and good enough to be picked. He is a senior player with a lot of experience. With his current surgery it appears unlikely he will make the cup. A like-for-like replacement? Brad Hodge. A year older than Hussey and the most consistently destructive one-day batsman in Australia. Just let him come in and play his game, which he knows only too well. The younger guys will just learn from his example. Its not a long-term strategy. Its an attempt to win the World Cup!
Whiteline
Guest
James and Vinay More than happy to be proven wrong about Smith but as I've said all along, if the conditions are right (ie no swing or seam and 5 men on the boundary), he'll do ok in ODI cricket and even tests because he can hit a ball, albeit like a tennis player. But if it's anything but that, I wouldn't be holding your breath. His bowling can be of value if he is used at the right moments too (as Vinay indicated) but it is more on a hope than anything else.
Vinay Verma
Roar Guru
jameswm,I agree about hopes. But Macdonald is just back from injury. If you had picked Macdonald it would be at the cost of David hussey and i think he can offer a lot with his spin. I agree about smith being better value at 8. But the Captain has to bowl him at the right time. Like just when a wicket falls. Or before lunch ot tea when batsmen have closed shop. And the right fields in these circumstances. bring the field right in and challenge the batsman to hjit over the top with five minutes to go for lunch. And why did Clarke take him off after he had 2-12 from three overs? I actually think the squad picked can do well. They have to use the next six games to gell as a team. work out where to bat Clarke or even if he should be in the first XI.
jameswm
Guest
Vinay Australia should have picked more medium-pace all ounders - guys like Hopes and McDonald. I'd have taken them ahead of Christian for various reasons (more economical bowlers, consistent batsmen and experience). We have lost flexibility. There seems to be a trend of wanting to bowl finger spinners who take the ball away from the batsman if you have two left or right handers in. Smith spins it in the opposite direction to Hauritz. And Smith is a much better bowler, esp one day bowler, than guys like whiteline give him credit for. I actually think he is the one who should be batting at 8 for tests for Australia as our frontline spinner. He isn't good enough for no.6 yet plus wrist spinners do better in Aust, and at least half our matches are here. First, though, he needs to bowl more in Shield games for NSW, but he's missing all those Shield games because of his international ODI and T20 duties right now.
Vinay Verma
Roar Guru
Marcus,Quantity does not equate to quality. South africa are relying on the untried Faf du Plessis and Imran Tahir-both legspinners and only one will play. Expect Duminy to bowl half the overs. Pakistan have one quality spinner in Ajmal. Afridi is a medium paced ball biter and rehman is no better than Nikita Miller of the west indies. Benn is average. England have Swann who is good and then Yardy and Tredwell..hardly Bedi or prassana. Sri Lanka may regret picking a 38 year old in Murali. Herath the lefty is unthreatening. Mendis could be difficult. India's Harbhajan is a better bowler than Swann and his backup s in chawla(good leegie) and Ashwin look the best of the spinners. None of these teams will play three frontline spinners. Except for India the other spinners are average to good. Swann and Bhaji are the standouts. So Australia will not be overawed. There is enough backup for hauritz in David Hussey,Smith and Clarke. white has been known to bowl,too Stop fretting .
Lolly
Guest
It's not like we've got brilliant spin bowlers, though is it? The p/timers will have to do.
Lolly
Guest
I've just come on and grumbled away without saying anything positive. That's because I'm so ultra-hacked off that Huss is injured. The WRONG man is injured. They could have afforded just about anyone else - apart from Watson - getting injured.
Lolly
Guest
Brett we lost that match and Clarke faced a lot of balls without getting his sr up to 90. I'm still not sure how he does that, is he never actually 'in'? If Cam White hadn't come out and blazed away to get 80 off 40 or something absurd like that, we would have been badly, badly beaten in that match.
Lolly
Guest
He is horrible to watch with all that safety first play but we're stuck with him. If he is going to drag-anchor the team, the others will have to have proper game plans.
Lolly
Guest
No point in having too many overs bowled by spin bowlers at all. It will only give Haddin more chances to show how poor he is at standing up to the wicket and we've already seen more than enough of that.
Marcus Taylor
Roar Rookie
Every side has taken minimum 2 specialist spinners and 2 regular part-timers. Apart from Australia. India, South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka all took 3. Either they know something we don't, or we're going to look like the biggest idiots at the cup. Doherty has consistently been the best domestic spinner in the last 4 years. It is not out of the realms of possibility to think O'Keefe might also have deserved a spot. Perhaps we simply planned too late for the Cup, not giving Christian, Doherty, Hastings, all fringe players enough cricket before the tournament
whiteline
Guest
Steve Smith's selection is laughable but I suppose it is a better selection than Steve Smith in test matches. At least he can hide a bit in ODI's - that is. slog a few forehands coming in at 7 or 8 and take the odd wicket off a long hop or fulltoss.
jameswm
Guest
He can't afford those dot balls and Ferguson for one can do a better consolidation job than Clarke while still picking up more regular singles and avoiding the dot balls that build up pressure. Ferguson also hits more boundaries. Clarke's strike rate is horrendous and often his scores (a 40 off 65 for example) are because the opposition lets him dawdle along at a s/r of 65 and isn't that worried about getting him out. with no slips and the field out, it isn't that hard to score runs if you're happy with a strike rate of 60.
SportsFanGC
Roar Guru
The thing about CA selectors at the moment is that they will continue to pick their favourites and not consider form. Ponting you would think is at his last WC and possibly time will be called on his ODI career after this tournament. You never know if they give him the news before the games start maybe it will inspire something like his old form, not the stuff he has trotted out this summer. Michael Clarke - everyone has an opinion on this guy at the moment. The right move was made when he was taken out of the T20 team, as a specialist batter in that form of the game you need power (Watson, White, Finch, Paine, Warner etc) and Clarke absolutely does not have this in his game. He POTENTIALLY can be useful in the ODI's only if he moves the ball around continously for singles and does not waste overs blocking (like he did on sunday night). Being annoited before proving anything has proven to be a rubbish move by CA and they should take the blame 100%.
Brett McKay
Guest
Rabz, if the original statement was 'Clarke hasn't made a run since India', then sure, it would have been a fair point. Don't mean to be a pedant... I don't have to much problem with Clarke batting the way he did/does, but that method means he can really only open in the one-day game, in my opinion....
Rabbitz
Roar Guru
Brett don't you mean 5 or 6 ODI failures ago? This is coupled with a series of test failures and twenty 20 failures to boot. Awww geez what's the point? When the silverware cupboard at CA is completely empty, maybe they will be forced into a rethink. Can't be much left in there right now. But at least hilditch, nielsen and sutherland are happy with the performance.
Brett McKay
Guest
Chris, McKay is injured and gone for the season, and Clarke made an unbeaten 100 in India in October (5 or 6 ODIs ago). Christian I'll give you, and with Shaun Marsh coming in for M.Hussey for these next 3 ODIs v England, and Hussey seemingly at long odds to be fit, Marsh may yet get a call-up...
chris mackinnon
Guest
how dan christian, shaun marsh, clint mckay didnt get picked and steve smith and michael clarke got picked amazes me, clarke hasnt made a run in 6 months steve smith he must have photos or information on a selector this is the worst team we have picked for a world cup since 1992