I am always of the belief that to be selected for the Test side, you need to put in performances at Sheffield Shield level.
The two players who have done well this season are Victorian opening batsman Chris Rogers and New South Wales captain and off spinner Steve O’Keefe.
Rogers is currently second on the leading runscorers behind Phil Hughes in Shield cricket this season. He has 496 runs at 49.60, which includes two centuries in seven matches.
There may be an argument that Rogers is 35 and that time has past him by. I disagree.
If you are 25 or 35, if you are doing the job, you should come under consideration.
Rogers (who averages close to 50 in first class cricket and has 57 centuries to his name), will give the side experience, especially following the retirement of Mike Hussey at the top.
If given the opportunity, and would give the Australian side a good short term fix, until young openers start to step up.
Rogers should replace Ed Cowan on the Indian tour. In my opinion, Cowan hasn’t done enough to warrant his spot for India.
Cowan has had a moderate summer with the bat where in the six Test matches against Sri Lanka and South Africa he scored 364 runs at 36.4, which included two fifties and a century.
Not too bad, but on the dust bowls that Indian pitches will provide, Cowan might struggle. He did found the going tough against Sri Lanka’s Rangana Herath on the last day at the SCG, and in my opinion, is the key reason I have him omitted from India.
It may be a harsh call on Cowan, but the way he bats, not only does he come across as limited, but he also doesn’t show much intent.
When you go on tough tours like India, you need to show some intent. Think Matthew Hayden in 2001.
I’m not saying Cowan should bat like Dave Warner or Hayden in the past, instead he needs to show some aggression with his batting.
Otherwise I do get the feeling that low scores are just around the corner.
However I could be wrong on Ed Cowan, but that’s just an opinion.
Meanwhile, Steve O’Keefe deserves a shot at Test cricket. His first class career of 78 wickets at 27 in 27 matches is solid, but good enough to be given a chance.
In his recent outing, he took match figures of 8/102 against WA. O’Keefe is the leading wicket taker among the spinners/slow bowlers in Shield cricket this season where he has taken 17 wickets at 24 from six games.
The next best is former Test spinner Nathan Hauritz with eight wickets at 38.
Next was two-Test spinner Michael Beer with 8 wickets at 46, followed by the current spinner Nathan Lyon with seven wickets at 71 from five matches.
Whether the selectors think O’Keefe is the right option, I’m not sure.
There was an article from Geoff Lawson over the weekend in the Sydney Morning Herald where this caught my eye.
“Stephen O’Keefe, much ignored for two years since his all-round performance against England for Australia A, finds himself in contention. His opening-day success against Western Australia in the Shield game that began on Thursday was outstanding but no selector bothered to turn up.”
I do remember O’Keefe’s performances against England in that “A” game. He took 4/88, which included clean bowling Kevin Pietersen. But with the selectors not turning up, that worries me.
It looks like the selectors are pushing for Victorian off spin all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, who has taken 27 wickets at 33 (average 42 with the bat) from 15 matches, and/or Tasmania’s Xavier Doherty who has captured 119 wickets at 44 from 51 matches.
It looks like taking wickets in ODIs and T20s has been deemed more important than taking wickets in Shield cricket.
Here is my squad for India:
C.Rogers
D.Warner
P.Hughes
U.Khawaja
M.Clarke
S.Watson
M.Wade
J.Pattinson
P.Siddle
N.Lyon
J.Bird
S.O’Keefe
B.Haddin
M.Starc
M.Johnson
I have picked Brad Haddin to be the reserve batsman and/or reserve wicket keeper. Haddin has done well for NSW this season where he has scored 347 runs at 57.83. Haddin is there for cover in the top six as a specialist batsman, or to replace Wade as keeper,.
This is especially if Wade continues to grass missed chances.
I’ll admit, it is an unusual squad.
Do we take five fast bowlers to India? Or do we pick four, and bring in a batsman like Alex Doolan or an all-rounder like Moises Henriques or Glenn Maxwell?
If there wasn’t a rotation policy in place for fast bowlers, then taking five fast bowlers would not be required, especially where Australia could play two spinners.
Also Watson has to bowl in India. He needs to bowl at least up to ten overs per innings minimum. If he is only going as a batsman alone, then he is threatening to weaken the side. Watson hasn’t done enough with the bat to justify selection.
One final thing. Will the selectors pick Usman Khawaja? Or will they bypass him, pick Watson as a batsman, and select Maxwell as the all-rounder at six or seven?
We shall see.
Bearfax
Guest
Khawaja is one of Australia's top four premier batsmen at present along with Clarke, Hughes, Warner. He must be in the team. O'Keefe should have been sent before Doherty. Bit of favouritism there I think because O'Keefe has much better averages. I wouldn't have objected to Rogers call up especially if it was in place of Cowan, another favourite who doesnt seem to be able to do wrong with these selectors. I would prefer a young batsman going and I think Burns should be ahead of players like Doolan....again better averages, younger, more potential. No need to waste a position taking a second wicket keeper when Hughes can fill in adequately as shown if needed Henriques is the best of a very average bunch of all rounders. Maxwell is and should only be taken to India for experience and no for the test team. He has good averages but he's at least 1-2 yeas shy of being test cricket ready. Steve Smith is the same as Maxwell. Good batting averages at first clas level but needs a year or two. Henriques is only 25 and looks like he will improve. Questionable if I would risk him in a test, but he's the best all rounder at present. There's no surprises in fast bowling group. That seems Australia's strength at present, though the young pups Pattinson, Starc and Bird are still a few years from their best. Good balance there with experience of Siddle and Johnson and raw talent of three 'kids'.
Sports Nut
Roar Rookie
Spot on I couldn't agree more I would have taken O'Keefe instead of Doherty. It is still a little bit risky picking Lyon because he just is not performing at all very well at First Class level.
Rob Barrow
Guest
Agreed Nihar. Khawaja should get the call from selectors tomorrow for the Indian tour based on what we saw today and Doolan should get backup batsman. . I am predicitng from what i saw tonight that the Windies will beat us, they were missing Gaylle and Roach and yet nearly chased down 333 with 10 batsman, they will be dangerous.
Nihar
Guest
Pope i like the squad but i would definitly have Khawaja at 6 and SOK comes in if Lyon fails or at the expense of another fast bowler if the pitches are real turners which they should be.
Nihar
Guest
I think after Khawaja's classy knock against the Windies he is a safe bet for India and he desrves it.
pope paul v11
Guest
ok scratch the Doh - Maxwell not so smart is a cert after Uncle Arthur's endorsement of his bowling. First test lne up = likely Cowan Warner Hughes Watson Clarke Wade Maxwell Johnson Pattinson Siddle Lyon O'Keeffe 12th res Khawaja Bailey Bird Starc Of course the brains trust frequently talk up Haddin and Smith so they could easily replace Khawaja and Bailey Meanwhile based on Invers comments Watto is safe as houses. As one of the commentors on cricinfo pointed out, England picked a similar but more experience line up in their 1st test and were duly hammered.
Rob Barrow
Guest
Great finish to the PMs game. Khawaja and Doolan continue to impress me and i think Khawaja can now get ready to get called up on Thursday with a fine 69 today. Doolan's 87 was very good though he was dropped at 45 but still well done. Khawaja's fielding was sharp and Red Kev has been saying for a while that the kid can field and we saw it tonight.Faulkner will be our test allrounder soon as well.
TheGenuineTailender
Roar Guru
You don't not pick a player because he's had a couple of injuries in the past. He's our best bowler, he should be one of the first guys on the team sheet. You have a squad with reserves so that in the unfortunate and unlikely event that someone is fouled by injury, then someone else can replace them. Not the other way around.
AndyMack
Guest
Sorry HH I doubt 3 quicks on slow indian pitches will win us many tests either. Please can we have 2 spinners...????
AndyMack
Guest
Ridiculous comment.
matt h
Guest
I think Bird already does that job and pretty well so far
matt h
Guest
If we play two spinners, we cannot play Pattinson. Too injury prone and without Watson as a third seamer we would be horribly exposed. Either, - the spinner has to play as an alrounder, but our batting is already weak, or - we need a pace bowling alrounder. We don;t have one who is good enough (McDonald is injured) - we use Starc or Bird instead of Pattinson
matt h
Guest
Is an average of 49 in domstic cricket around the same as 36 in test cricket with the step up in standard. Not sure, but Ponting sure seemed to make hay in the shield this year before being shown up in the tests. In a similar vein Finch was braining them in the BBL but struggled against the quality Sri Lankan bowling
Matt F
Roar Guru
Yep they had about 18 or so months to rebuild the side from the last Ashes and really blew the opportunity. It's now almost, if not already, at the stage where it's too late to do anything much at all.
jameswm
Guest
SOK had a lower scoring rate at his end. It wasn't Copeland getting SOK the wickets, it was the combination of both probing and keeping the run rate down. I think Ronnie McDonald can do a similar job to Copeland, at a similar speed I might add, and adds to the equation being one of the best 10 bats in the country. He needs to get...fit...fast.
john
Guest
he played one test match against india in 2008 when Hayden was injured, he made i think only 15 runs in that match
John
Guest
Just as an aside, O'Keefe took 8/102 because Copeland was bowling down the other end, creating pressure, bowling maidens, creating frustration, etc, so the bats tried to score off SOK. Maybe we should take both of them, just a thought.
Red Kev
Guest
I don’t mind Henriques, but he isn’t ready yet. This is his breakout season, don’t rush him into tests, make him back it up. This is the season of his first century and first half-century in not just first-class but any form of the game at senior domestic level. If we are that desperate for an allrounder, develop him in the ODIs where he won't be so exposed.
Matt
Guest
He should be there just because? Solid selection strategy.. ;)
Pope Paul VII
Guest
Breathtaking and not in a good way. Henriques is he most talented what? Spruiker? That's what our "allrounders" seem to best at. I hadn't even considered Moises. Add him to the heaven forbid pile. The Doh should be on that pile as well. Strangely he does look like he knows what he's doing so maybe that's why the selectors like him.