At 12:30 yesterday afternoon, Jason Krejza tweeted “holy moly” while the rest of us recovered from shock. An hour earlier, it had been revealed Michael Clarke and Shane Watson would be rested from the final match of the one-day series in Perth on Sunday.
It’s all part of a plan to manage their workload ahead of the World Cup.
The merit of resting Clarke, who has just hit form again, is highly debatable, but not as much of a shock as seeing Krejza’s name in the squad.
“Jason is a very skilled spinner and more than capable batsman who has already enjoyed international success and we are sure will seize the opportunity,” chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch said in a statement.
Excuse me! Would that be “a very skilled spinner” that the selection panel has completely ignored since December of 2008?
Would that be a player who has “already enjoyed international success”, but was dropped after just two Test? If the selection panel is so sure he’ll “seize the opportunity,” then why hasn’t he been picked sooner?
Just over two years after he took twelve wickets on his Test debut in India, Krejza is back in the green and gold. It’s a shame that it’s only because Nathan Hauritz, Xavier Doherty and Steve Smith are injured.
“I never gave up hope. I just knew I was going to be a better bowler and hopefully I’d have the opportunity in the future. It’s come along now so I’m pretty excited,” Krejza said.
The 28-year-old was dropped after returning figures of 1 for 204 against South Africa in Perth. Now he’s tasked with trying to impress the national selectors again on the same ground that led to his international demise.
It was just his second Test! Surely his axing was premature.
“I’ve played a lot of cricket since then and obviously I’ve learned a lot of different varieties and trying to change my bowling up for different batsmen and different wickets, so a lot more cricket has helped me,” he told reporters.
That’s definitely a positive, but imagine if he’d been given time to find his feet under the baggy green? Would we have even heard of Michael Beer?
On the topic of Beer, what must he be thinking?
The man is good enough to be Australia’s spinner during the Ashes, but not good enough to be called up to the one-day side, even though Hauritz, Doherty and Smith are on the treatment table.
Still, Krejza well and truly deserves another chance.
He can be expensive, but also deadly. Finding a happy medium is now the biggest challenge. Whether he gets more than one match to prove his worth is highly doubtful.
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