Sympathy isn’t usually the first thing that springs to mind when thinking of the men charged with selecting the Australian cricket team. Last night, after scribbling out four different sides in the space of five minutes for the Boxing Day Test against India, I shook my head and wished them well.
The only criteria for these sides was that Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey had to be selected.
They’ll both line-up on Boxing Day in the baggy green at the MCG because their eventual farewell won’t come via a sacking, but a pre-determined date.
They’ll both get the chance to sit at a jam-packed news conference and tell the world why they’ve chosen a particular date to call it quits.
If it hasn’t happened yet, it won’t happen before the first Test.
Of the four sides I managed to jot down before feeling like my head was going to explode, combinations included:
– Shane Watson back for Phil Hughes, and Usman Khawaja retained, but no Shaun Marsh or Ed Cowan.
– Watson and Marsh to force out Khawaja and Hughes.
– Cowan and Watson included, but no Marsh and a drop for Khawaja.
– Cowan, Watson and Marsh included but not Khawaja.
The final combination proved to be a problem – following the rule about the Ponting and Hussey, it had the latter batting at seven with Haddin at eight and no room for a spinner. The team-sheet would make an office printer run out of paper.
John Inverarity, the leader of the wise men in question (it is Christmas after all), will announce what is expected to be a bloated squad this afternoon. It has shades of the 17-strong list that was announced prior to the Ashes, and didn’t that end well!
This circumstance is slightly different, yet eerily the same.
The side largely hinges on the fitness of Watson and Marsh, but you get the feeling the selectors have genuinely had to wrack their brains about this one.
Then if you add Dan Christian to the selection mix it complicates things further. NASA scientists had an easier time figuring out how to get Apollo 13 back to Earth.
The public push behind Cowan is similar to the weight of support that was behind Warner before his elevation to the Test side. His 109 for the Chairmans XI against India in Canberra yesterday heaped further pressure on the selectors. In his last eight innings he has scored four centuries and two half centuries. Those numbers are hard to ignore.
Watson must be picked to bolster the batting line-up even if he can’t bowl and even a 90 percent fit Marsh is worth punting on.
Warner has been suffering with a back injury for the last couple of weeks, and you wonder why he was allowed to play in the Big Bash League (even though he scored a century), or the tour match against India. Surely rest and recovery would’ve been a better option.
The future of Khawaja is also interesting. Do the selectors drop a player who many see as a long-term number three, and who they believe is one big innings away from being unstoppable, purely to ensure that Ponting and Hussey retain their places?
Good luck boys. Over to you, because my head hurts.
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