Australia will likely start next summer with Ed Cowan opening, Ricky Ponting at number four and Michael Hussey in the lower middle order.
Despite their incumbency, these three will almost certainly be discarded within the next few years. But there’s argument for Australia biting the bullet immediately and cutting its losses now.
Ponting and Hussey are entering their late 30s and the writing has been on the wall for some time now. It would have been an excellent time for both to go out on top against India, following Australia’s four-nil series victory in the summer of 2011-12.
They have both, however, decided to continue to play on with an eye on the 2013 Ashes in England. A wise move? Quite possibly not.
Cowan is still under pressure having not yet scored a Test hundred and struggled in the West Indies. He currently averages 29.83 after 12 Test innings. His first-class record is solid, however, once again, an average of 41.48 isn’t yet setting the world on fire.
It looks as though the Australian selectors have missed the boat on at least two batsmen who should have been made regular parts of the test side. David Hussey and Chris Rogers both have impeccable first-class records, yet have one Test match between them.
Had both Hussey and Rogers been integrated into the Test set-up throughout the past two to three years, they may have 20 Tests each now under their belts. Australia’s batting line-up would look dramatically more formidable.
Dwelling on the mistakes of the past, however, will certainly not help going forward. Lessons must be learned and effective changes must be made. But John Inverarity, Australia’s head selector, has indicated George Baily and Peter Forrest are the next two cabs off the rank for Test batting spots. Once more I find myself at odds with this intended direction.
After 135 years of Test cricket, we have drawn the remarkable conclusion that you won’t become a successful Test cricketer without first proving yourself in the first-class arena.
The likes of Baily (40.70), Cowan (41.48) and Forrest (35.04) fall towards the latter end of the spectrum when you compare first-class averages of Australia’s potential crop. While Test discards, Usman Khawaja (43.10) and Phillip Hughes (45.89[not including his hundred in the current County Championship match]), loom in middle to high table positions.
The Australian selection table have spoken about an increased onus on proven ability rather than potential; however their recent selections seem to contrast these protocols and directives.
While Cowan, Baily and Forrest all had good domestic summers last time around, they have yet to string together years of dominance at the crease. On the back of this, Inverarity recently claimed the current side is “the best we’ve got”. Despite this, better players seem to loom on the outer.
It’s time the Australian selectors took a different approach. Picture the Australian Test team three years from now. Will we really have Baily and Forrest forging the backbone of the middle order and can Cowan truly cement a place as Australia’s dogged Test match opener (his recent performances in the Australia ‘A’ tour of England have been promising and I truly want him to prove me wrong)?
I find these scenarios highly unlikely. Cowan will struggle his way through another eight or so Tests and be dropped for another young opener (who will be thoroughly unproven), Forrest will fill in during a few Tests here and there and will scrap his way to 30 on each occasion, and when Baily enters the fray he will be energetic in the field but offer sub-par batting contributions.
The National Selection Panel (NSP) need to be short listing Hughes and Khawaja — who scored 122 runs against Australia ‘A’ for the loss of his wicket once—along with the exciting battery of young fast bowlers, as the future core of the Australian side.
The suggestion that Baily, Cowan and Forrest will suddenly average mid to high 40s — which is what we should be expecting — in Test cricket is absurd. History tells us that first-class cricket is the building block for test players. How then can we ignore the Sheffield Shield’s finest?
Ironically, it may end up being their non-selection which will help Khawaja and Hughes reach their goals as Australian batsmen. Now that they appear to be out of the selectors’ minds, they seem to have more focus and an increased drive.
Both will now have the time they require to continue developing their individual game and get back to the basics of scoring runs. And with Australia’s middle order appearing to be in crisis, we dearly need these two to reach their full potential.
Even more surprising to me is that these two have been completely ignored in the one day format. Hughes and Khawaja are among the top one day batsmen in the world, let alone the county.
While English county cricket may not be the pinnacle of the 50-over game—in part because its 40 overs—Hughes’ performances cannot remain unnoticed by the NSP. He topped the Friends Life T20 batting charts in emphatic style and is averaging a Bradmanesque 97.80 across his eight CB40 appearances thus far.
Khawaja is likewise a fine one day batsman who averages in the high 30s at a decent clip. He brings the added benefit of being a batsman who makes the most of his starts. Of the six times Khawaja has passed 50 in List A matches, on four of those occasions he has gone on to record triple figures. Why should he not be given the chance to do similar in the green or canary yellow of Australia?
Australia could certainly do with Khawaja and Hughes blossoming into international sensations. However, only time will tell what the future holds.
can only hope that it’s a bright one for the Australian cricket team, regardless of who tomorrow’s stars might be.
Frankie Hughes
Guest
Phillip Hughes can certainly play. Just look at his stats in the current English FC season. He's scored 2 hundreds in FC cricket averaging around 50. He's the top scorer in the 40 over competition, also scoring 2 hundreds. He's also the top scorer in the T20 competition. He's a serious player. Might I add, Hughes is playing Div 1 in England and still out doing Khawaja, who's playing Div 2. Need I say more?
TheGenuineTailender
Roar Guru
Consistency is over-rated. He goes out there and plunders a side to bits, crushes their confidence and gives total belief to the rest of his team mates all in one innings. I don't care if he then scraps his way around for the rest of the series. He's done his bit.
Marcus Taylor
Roar Rookie
Why not give Bailey and Forrest a chance? Hughes and Khawaja didn't quite take their chances when they had them. No one's denying they have the ability to be there, and they have the first-class records to prove it. The selectors felt they had a small amount of attitude and technical problems, that hard work, more cricket and more runs could iron out. This time out of the Test side will serve them well. But don't draw a line through Bailey and Forrest, simply because they don't have outstanding numbers. Neither has had the opportunity to play years of County Cricket and boost their numbers like Katich, Rogers, Hussey, etc. At the very least give them an opportunity to show their ability at Test level.
Deep Thinker
Guest
I don't necessarily think Hughes and Khawaja are going to be great test players, but they will be solid options until someone comes through. Technique is not overly important to me. Warner doesn't have a good technique but already has more 100s than Watson. Gilchrist was a slasher - just like Hughes - how many times did he get caught at third man? Steve Waugh didn't have a good technique - that's why he stopped playing the pull shot. Langer, Katich and Lehmann were "ugly" cricketers. I'm not sure about Hughes and Khawaja's mental strength - but then again, they were young kids fed to the wolves. Playing at the top of the order with the experienced guys abdicating responsibility and batting 4-6 (Ponting, Clarke, Hussey). Ponting, Clarke, S. Waugh, Martyn - they all started out at number 6 in an experienced batting line up. None of the older guys have stepped up to the plate - which is really disappointing. The issue with Australia is there is no real young talent outside Hughes, Khawaja, Burns and Warner. Stick with these guys because the cupboard is bare. The only other real option is D. Hussey as a stop gap - to get us through the Ashes. Perhaps a good option. We need to dispense with this Cowan, Bailey and Forrest fantasy.
WillW
Guest
Here, here Tobes!
Aaron
Guest
partially agree with that. warner needs to work on consistency, otherwise why have him on team? on his day dave warner can smash the opposition to smithereens. we saw that at the WACA last summer. but other than that all he does right now is get out when well set on 20-30 from cheap shot, then scores a hundred every now and then to keep his place in team. i really hope he can be more consistent
Disco
Roar Guru
Political correctness... Khawaja was the best batsman in first class cricket for two seasons. And, yes, he scored a 50 whilst top scoring in Australia´s most memorable Test victory in recent years.
Danno1
Guest
Technique is proven to be over-rated, Chanderpaul makes Simon Katich look like MarkWaugh, but no one can dispute he is an outstanding test batsman. On a completely other level, Bradman was not an orthodox batsman, no one has emulated his technique, let alone record, but no one suggested he go back to Shield and modify his technique after he was dropped from the test team.. Bearing that in mind, the best thing for Hughes is to bat however the hell he feels like. It got him in to the test team, and if he was given a decent crack he may have stayed there, but alas Mitch Johnson's career was more important. For the purists who love technique, Usman's is outstanding, the best in domestic cricket, without a doubt he will succeed at test level, he should be given a long stint, plain as day he is the next best bat we have.
Tanami Mehmet
Guest
I agree that Usman Khawaja should still be in the mix and that more should be done to see him become a consistent member of the side. I say this because there are things in his technique that will work in test cricket and that should be the first point of call for a selector. But if Australia need Phil Hughes and even David Warner for that matter then we are stuffed. Both players have had a chance to play in a level of cricket that sorts out blokes with serious deficiencies and spits them out. the Phil Hughes story is well known, guy with a good eye that likes to chance his hand gets picked, has some success and the other mobs work out what he does badly and next thing you know he's playing in the magoos. Our man Dave Warner is currently playing the same role but is lucky enough to still have a few chances left in him. I think they both have done remarkably well with their techniques but an eye will only get you so far. England won't let him off the hook as easy as New Zealand or India did. I have a feeling he'll be coming under very close scrutiny come this summer when we're looking at our list and the bits it's missing. Never wish any of these guys any ill but if I can find a market for DW not playing an Ashes 2013 match I'll be placing a bet.
lolly
Guest
I think he has made some changes to his technique. I'd like to see him play first class cricket and short format cricket at domestic level till he has completely embedded these changes. He's got plenty of mongrel in him so by the time he's 25 or so, he should be ready again for another go at international level. And I'd expect he'll do pretty well then too.
TheGenuineTailender
Roar Guru
Two test hundreds in nine tests, an average 42--which I would consider solid--and his ability to single handedly take the game away from the opposition all seem valid enough reasons to me...
Carl
Guest
Cowan Marsh Khawaja Clarke Forrest Watson Paine Pattinson Hilfenhaus Harris Lyon. Yes thats Shaun Marsh.
Dan
Guest
I still can't fathom how Dave Warner is picked infront of anyone?? -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
TheGenuineTailender
Roar Guru
His recent spate of run-scoring would suggest he's certainly headed in the right direction. At the end of the day, technique doesn't win matches, runs and wickets do.
Scuba
Guest
Khawaja should be in the side, but not batting at 3. Like Ponting, Clarke etc, he should bat at 5 or 6 to start off with rather than coming in at 1 for not many with a huge amount of pressure on him. Clarke should step up to 3. Hughes had one brilliant series against South Africa, and then international opposition worked him out. I agree that technique is not the be all and end all (exhibit A - Shiv Chanderpaul), but you can't have two openers with dodgy techniques. If you want to play someone who is all hand-eye coordination and not much footwork (Warner) you need to have someone more solid at the other end (someone like, but preferably better than, Cowan).
SamClench
Roar Pro
Hughes has an obvious flaw in his technique and international bowlers are good enough to exploit it. Fix that and then he absolutely has the talent to succeed at test level.
Don Corleone
Guest
I think cricket is fighting back in this respect. My daughter is an a regional squad for one of the state cricket academies and is training, playing and attending camps throughout winter. Attendance is compulsory and missing sessions to play in other sports means expulsion from the program. As the T20 circuit grows domestically and internationally, potential athletes will look to take up cricket professionally.
TheGenuineTailender
Roar Guru
Technique isn't the be all and end all. He has three test match hundreds to his name. I'll go out on a limb and say that the bloke can bat. Khawaja got picked based on the fact that he had the best first-class record of any young Australian batsmen (excluding Hughes). The NSW come Australian test players debate is old and a poor excuse for poor player development by other states. Some players missed the boat yes. But that's not because they weren't New South Welshmen.
WillW
Guest
Too right Evan! Bring on a cracking shield season with some more batsman friendly pitches!
Evan
Guest
I might be old fashioned but I think the Aussie team is a rep side, so you pick the best XI. Hughes and Khawaja didn't grab their chance and need to go back and make runs. If you look at the team we have a generation gap between the 30 year olds (Clarke, Ponting, Watson, Hussey) and the younger batsman (Khawaja, Hughes). The main problem is blokes who should be at the peak of their batting at 26-30yo have not come on. I speak mainly of Shaun Marsh, Cam White and Callum Ferguson, all given chances at a younger age in limited-overs, none have developed into test batsmen. 12 months ago Marsh made a hundred on test debut, now isn't close to the test side, White was our T20 captain and top-10 ranked ODI batsman, hasn't fired a shot in test match cricket. Ferguson was the golden boy at 23-24yo, still averages 40 in ODIs, injuries hurt him but he still hasn't made a decent first-class score since his return. Somebody (anybody!) needs to come out and have a standout Shield season, if you do you will be straight on the plane to England for sure.