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Australia well placed for summer ahead

Expert
1st December, 2011
2

After the first day of the Test summer, Australian cricket fans can feel a lot more confident than twelve months ago. Indeed, it was day one of a new era – a new coach, new chairman of selectors, new captain. It has been fundamental reform.

But more important than any of these positions is the playing stock. While we have been decimated by injury, the quality of young players coming through from first-class cricket is better than it has been in awhile.

New coach Mickey Arthur has flagged the use of a squad of fast bowlers who will be rotated to minimise and cover for injuries. With this in mind, he would have been very pleased with the two fast bowling debutants, Mitchell Starc and James Pattinson, who after nervous starts both took wickets in the first session of play.

With Mitchell Johnson down on form and now injured and the new wunderkind of fast bowling Pat Cummins also injured, we could have been badly exposed.

However, what is very encouraging is how many names were considered for the vacant bowling spots. Ben Cutting has been the form Shield bowler, and Trent Copeland impressed with the consistency of his line and length in Sri Lanka. Either could have been easily picked for this Test. Copeland in particular has been unlucky to lose his spot on the strength of his first few Tests.

Perhaps the guy who has flown under the radar more than any other is Nathan Lyon. Since the retirement of Shane Warne, Australian cricket has bemoaned the absence of a quality Test standard spinner. We all know how many have been tried and discarded. And yet few have given sufficient praise to what Lyon has achieved to date – probably because his actual figures have been modest. But the fundamentals are very strong.

As a spinner your baseline is your ability to hit good lengths quickly and often. Lyon (despite the fact that he did not do a long first-class apprenticeship) is a mature spin bowler. He flights the ball nicely (often getting it above the batsmans’ eye-line), uses nice changes of pace, and most importantly can shape and bounce the ball.

While we are not used to seeing this in an orthodox off spinner, he looks the goods and I suggest will play many Tests. He can also hold an end which his captain will need him to do as the young fast bowlers develop.

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The other debutant yesterday was David Warner, a player familiar to most through his six-hitting exploits in T20 cricket. It will catch many by surprise to see the excitement machine in the demure Test whites. This is a selection I am less sure about.

If he opens with either Hughes or Watson there will be two openers trying to throw the bat at everything. While there is scope for an attacking opener in the Michael Slater mode, I would like to see one opener play the more steady, circumspect role.

Ed Cowan, who scored more runs than Warner in the Australia A game and has been one of the most consistent run scorers in state cricket for the last few years, would have been a perfect replacement for Katich – bringing similar starch. Perhaps I am being a little sentimental about the way Test cricket should be played; Virender Sehwag has shown that there is room for attacking openers in Test cricket and Warner does have a very sound technique.

The leader has also been very impressive. The veteran journalist Mike Coward recently observed that the much maligned Michael Clarke has not put a foot wrong either on or off the field since taking the top job. I have been a critic of Clarke in the past but have to agree with Coward. Clarke appears to be popular with the younger players who see him as one of them – a man from their generation.

While at the same time Clarke has expertly managed his relationship with old friend and captain Ricky Ponting. Those calling for Ponting’s head need to show more respect to an ex-Australian Test captain and one of the best batsmen ever to don the baggy green.

Ponting is a once in a generation player and the longer he is there to pass on the learnings from his illustrious career, the better. He is the only elder left from the Australian team that ruled the world for a decade. I also think the great man can score considerable runs in his twilight just as his peers Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara have done.

All in all there is much to be optimistic about – however, the true test will come from the Indians later in the summer

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