- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
A Test century on debut by Rob Quiney would be an adrenalin rush for the brittle Australian batting line-up as they try to regain world number one Test status.
The three-Test series against top dog South Africa begins at the Gabba tomorrow.
But it’s a big ask for the 30-year-old Victorian leftie against the best pace attack on the planet of Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander, Morne Morkel, and Jacques Kallis.
In my lifetime, there have been 264 new baggy green caps, 167 of them pure batsmen or all-rounders.
But only 12 have cracked the debut ton in 64 years. It’s a mighty elite group:
Jimmy Burle (1951), Doug Walters (1965), Greg Chappell (1970), Gary Cosier (1975), Dirk Wellham (1981), Kepler Wessels (1982), Wayne Phillips (1983), Mark Waugh (1991), Greg Blewett (1995), Michael Clarke (2004), Marcus North (2009), and Shaun Marsh last year.
Quiney showed he’s not overawed by the occasion by taking 85 off Steyn and Philander for Australia A at the SCG last week, while Morkel and Kallis were rested.
And there’s an inbuilt plus for the Australian batting with five of the top seven left-handed. If Steyn has an Achilles heel, it’s the lefties.
That aside, the South Africans out-rank the Australians right across the park.
Batting – Hashim Amla (2), Kallis (4), AB de Villiers (5), Alviro Petersen (29), JP Duminy (50), and Jacques Rudolf (54).
Australia – Clarke (6), Mike Hussey (17), Ricky Ponting (20), David Warner (44), Ed Cowan (60), and Matt Wade (70)
Bowling – Steyn (1), Philander (2), Morkel (9), Kallis (32), and Imran Tamir (61).
Australia – Ben Hilfenhaus (6), Peter Siddle (7), James Pattinson (31), Nathan Lyon (35), Mitchell Starc (71).
Pretty comprehensive in South Africa’s favour on paper.
It could be different if Rob Quiney inspires his new team-mates to raise the bar.