At first I was in denial. Surely they had made a mistake. The name must have been printed wrong or someone was playing a sour joke. Then I was angry.
The bloke averages 37 in first class cricket!
How can they elevate him above his superiors in the pecking order? Then I bargained. If only the other possible replacement had converted a particular 50 into a hundred, or the selectors had a different approach.
That’s when the depression set in. Poor Phillip Hughes, who has remodelled his technique, goes unrewarded. The finally came acceptance. Rob Quiney will make his Test debut.
From this you would assume I was completely against such a selection. And two hours before I wrote this piece you would have been completely right.
But what swayed me so dramatically to the point where now I believe it all makes sense?
I, for one, believe that Usman Khawaja and Hughes are the future of the Australian batting line-up – hopefully alongside young Queenslander, Joe Burns.
Having said that, I’ve written previously that I believe the best thing for these young guys is an extended stint in first-class cricket. Namely, the opportunity to perfect their game and discover their true limitations; to make adjustments and learn to play within themselves.
Quiney joins the Australian squad having averaged in the mid 40s across the past two Sheffield Shield seasons. He was domestic player of the season last summer and has just come off the back of a composed 85 against the touring South Africans.
He is a competent cricketer and a man with form behind him. Fellow Roarers pointed this out. It is for this reason that I believe his selection makes perfect sense.
The national selection panel will know, or hope at least, that this will be a one off test for Quiney. Therefore, all they are looking for is a man who in this match will get some runs.
To break the focus of a Hughes or Khawaja from their Shield seasons for one match could prove far more counter productive than to give a shot to Quiney.
The saying goes, form is temporary, class is permanent. In this case, the true telling of such a remark has uncharacteristically favoured Quiney greatly.
To be the classier player was not a necessity. Merely the man best suited to scoring runs from next Friday to Tuesday would be given the nod.
If Quiney averaged five more in first-class cricket, he would also fall into the category of a development player. To throw him into one Test would be fruitless. There would be little to gain. But now that his short-term returns have been so great, his overall record appears to lose its value and Quiney will benefit far more from such.
For these reasons I say, “go get ’em Bobby”. Pull on your baggy green with pride, score some runs and enjoy the experience.
I highly doubt that his cap will be leaving the pool room any time soon after next Tuesday, but that won’t take away from the one glorious Test match he will have played.
Yzathenu
Guest
JohnB nailed it. Recent form is what counts. Too many statistics in cricket confusing the facts. If Quiney was a footy player his 2 years of form would have him in an orgin jersey. Who cares if he was rubbish when he started out. Besides watsons batting isn't great. Our batting actually looks better now his gone. It's his bowling we will miss. Lyon will have to bowl a lot of overs now, and that is where we're stuffed. I'd have four quicks and pup and Huss to push it through and keep it tight in the middle overs. Lyon will be butchered if his bowling to set batsmen.
TheGenuineTailender
Roar Guru
;)
Mick H
Roar Rookie
The cupboard was bare of fast bowling ranks 18 months/ 2 years ago, now there are no quality batsmen as many are still progressing their first class careers and gaining that invaluable experience. Patience and these batmen; Hughes, Khawaja, Ferguson (add more names please) will be ready after a couple of seasons and the team will be the better for it. Meanwhile just put up the best team for the conditions and the game plan until then. I like how Quiney has that experienced old head on his shoulders and may actually give it a decent fist, much like Mike Hussey when he started his belated test career and average close to 100 in tests for 2 years(ish) Still worried about Steyn's pace a couple of days ago though... goodluck boys !
JohnB
Guest
Can only agree with you there.
Jason
Guest
I have to say, David Hussey has had enough goes at international cricket (admittedly in limited overs games) and has failed enough times to suggest that he might struggle in Tests. And every time that there has been an opening for the Test side, Hussey has been out of form in the FC stuff. Again, not a great sign for his ability to perform under pressure.
JohnB
Guest
You could, though I don't think they would want to move everyone else around to accommodate him. I don't disagree with you that English performance should have been a plus for him in the past. Hard to go past him being 35 now though. You'd also have to check which division of the county championship Notts were in when he played for them.
MrKistic
Guest
They definitely wanted someone to walk into first drop though, they didn't want to mess with the order. Don't worry, in a few years time people will look back and wonder how a bloke with a 50+ average never got a crack in the test team while they were struggling to find some substance in their batting line up. Age is clearly against him now and he'll go down as one of the unlucky ones I'd say. I don't think Hilditch, A. is ever going to be on his xmas card list either.
TheGenuineTailender
Roar Guru
Even worse than his captaincy has been his batting.
TheGenuineTailender
Roar Guru
You could quite easily slot David in at five or six and bump Ponting and Clarke up. Surely being a good batsmen in English conditions should play in Hussey's favour considering the Ashes is approaching?
JohnB
Guest
I was sort of catching the zeitgeist a fair bit more than I usually do.
Jason
Guest
No they aren't.
MrKistic
Guest
Ha! Apologies on my part, just getting too used to mildly crazy comments in the last couple of days :)
JohnB
Guest
Sorry, thought the irony would be sufficiently obvious!!
MrKistic
Guest
How?
JohnB
Guest
Clarke's captaincy has certainly been a disaster.
Bludger
Guest
End of the day we just could not go back to another NSW player, they tried that and we ended up having our bottom's spanked. If they put that Phil Hughes back in again, that is when you know the selectors have lost the plot and need to be shown the door like the clown prince Hilditch. Quiney is a surprise, but they gave the captaincy to Clarke for goodness sake to give you an idea of the brain's trust we have at cricket hq. Cannot wait for the test, that should be the national holiday so we can all take the day off to watch it on the tele.
Malibu77
Guest
The pantry is well and truly in need of re-stocking. Gone are the days when you had Love, Law, Hodge, Lehmann etc in the wings racking up plenty of runs and awaiting a call up. Alas none of the current crop are screaming out to be picked, although I like the look of Joe Burns from QLD. He has jumped ahead of Chris Lynn up there who now can't get in the team. I actually think McDonald is good enough to be selected or perhaps Butterworth or Henriques. All 3 are good medium-fast bowlers and very handy middle order batsmen capable of making runs.
MrKistic
Guest
+1 Everyone here gets their blinkers on when it comes to selection. They notice a couple of flashy players, or one big score in the last couple of weeks, their favourite state player or just whoever everyone else is talking about, without noticing that Quiney was one of the best bats in the Shield last season and just happily faced Steyn and Philander while making a few runs. Also, Quiney is about to get a baggy green and this is what he thinks of us uninformed commenters on The Roar: http://resources2.news.com.au/images/2012/11/05/1226510/840366-rob-quiney.jpg So whatevs.
JohnB
Guest
Hussey bats down the order, not at the top where the vacancy is, his figures in England are much better than his figures in Australia, making his overall figures misleading and he's 35. Unfortunate for him but not that mysterious. And not much FC form this season either. Quiney's been around for a while. He had one decent season in his first 4, where he was moved around a bit in a strong Vics side (and wasn't always in the team). His overall average to that point would have been an undistinguished 30. Since then he's had a good season and a very good season, in both cases when the wickets have been more favourable to the bowlers. Maybe he's got lucky or maybe he's figured out how to play at that level. You're right that his overall average is 37. But how relevant are his ordinary couple of opening seasons 5 and 6 years back? Aren't his last 2 seasons (av 46) far more relevant?
Brett McKay
Expert
Why is it a shocking decision though, to replace your Test no.3 with the most consistent top order bat in the country over the last couple of seasons?