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It is obvious that Australia’s batting line-up is not settled. We have had five different openers since the start of the Ashes series.
The ageing veterans Ponting and Hussey have managed post big centuries after lean trots (six tests at 26 for Ponting and four tests at 11 for Hussey); Mr “subject to fitness” Shane Watson doesn’t have a defined role in the side despite winning the Allan Border medal for the last two years; and we have sacrificed the last three middle order batsman to debut Smith, Khawaja, and Marsh despite them having only 18 tests between them.
However things aren’t really that bad, the problem is not the players, it is the selectors.
The new national selection panel is running scared.
They don’t know what to do without the comfort of Ponting and Hussey so they refuse to drop them and just wait for some runs to come (it is nice that Ponting did so well against India but he should never have had the chance).
They are scared to end Haddin’s limited overs career despite the fact that over the next 10 months Australia play three tests, about 30 ODIs and a T20 World Cup making the limited overs format the perfect vehicle to bring a new wicketkeeper up to test-standard.
They are scared of making the wrong call on the new batsman for the line-up so bounce from Khawaja to Marsh to Cowan and all the time hope for Watson to be fit instead of showing a little faith in someone.
The result is that the media (most notably places like Fox Sports) and the public (on forums like The Roar) are throwing up absurd names for test honours. And worse the selectors are following suit.
Peter Forrest has had a decent shield season for Queensland, but it is the first time he has looked the part of a top class batsman in five years of first class cricket (he averaged 18 last season).
Rob Quiney has just scored two centuries in one match but this is the first time his average has been over 50 in a 5-year first class career, last season was the first time it got over 40.
Dan Christian posted five good shield matches this season for the first time in his five year career.
None of these guys are ready for Test cricket, yet their names are being floated by the selectors.
That is scary.
Michael Klinger was state player of the year in 2008/9 and 2009/10 but never came close to a baggygreen.
Usman Khawaja was state player of the year in 2010/11 and is in his fourth straight season of good domestic form but still gets discarded after three tests (and then discarded again after three more tests).
What happened to consistency as a selection criteria?
What happened to examining a batsman’s record before selecting them?
What happened to showing a little faith in players before dumping them?
When did the Australian selectors shy from tapping an old guy on the shoulder and telling him to move on? If it’s good enough for Border and Waugh it’s good enough for Ponting and Hussey.
The selectors need to stop pussy-footing around the hard calls and make some decisions. Perhaps they will be wrong, but a wrong decision is still preferable to indecision.
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