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If there is one common consensus in all the talk about the Australian cricket team, it’s that the side isn’t right.
The team we put out on the paddock against India was nothing short of a disgrace and an embarrassment. You have players earning a spot who have either struggled in the international arena or, even more frightening, on that state scene.
It is little wonder India won the recent Test as comprehensively and brutally as they did.
In eight short weeks, Australia will play England for The Ashes. Before that time, things need to change and they need to change quickly.
The phenomenal brains trust that we call the selection panel need to wake up and smell the roses. Blind Freddy only needs to look at the second Innings scorecard of the Test in Hyderabad to notice we are in serious trouble.
Regardless of any scientifically engineered ‘rotation policy’, Australia must focus on winning The Ashes. Below are the changes that I would make to the side before the first Test:
1. Lyon In, Doherty Out
This fascination with attempting to unearth a left arm spinner needs to be erased from of the minds of the selectors. Xavier Doherty needs to be dropped.
Doherty has one stock ball, which hardly turns even on the spinner friendly Indian wickets. His three wickets in the last Test were all tail enders. There is an alarming trend here – he is simply not good enough.
The best spinner in the country should play in the Test side and that is Nathan Lyon. He can at least trouble the batsmen with movement off the pitch and proven himself a wicket taker – handy with the bat as well.
2. Four fast bowlers – Mitchell Starc, James Pattinson, Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle
On the green wickets in England, you need your best fast bowlers tearing in. This idea of having two all rounders in the side is pathetic.
If you were Alastair Cook, you would much rather get through the opening bowlers and face the gentle medium pace. We don’t want that!
Rattle the cages of these Poms and select the bowlers who are fast and, more importantly, can swing it.
You don’t need a gentle medium pace all rounder. All four of these men can bat and hopefully it will put the onus on the top order to perform.
3. Voges in, Watson Out
If Shane Watson isn’t going to bowl then he must become accountable for his batting. Put simply, it is not up to scratch.
He seems to still be carrying his niggling injuries and because he is not at 100%, he should not be playing.
Adam Voges is fast becoming the Brad Hodge of this cricket generation. Despite countless runs in both Sheffield Shield and International ODIs, he continues to be overlooked.
The man is in form and high in confidence. In addition, his fielding is brilliant and would be a welcome inclusion.
4. Clarke at three
I am going to say this bluntly, Michael Clarke needs to man up and stop hiding down the order. The day Ricky Ponting called it quits, Clarke should have put his hand up there and then, moved up the order and stamped himself as a top order superstar.
He obviously has the technique and the ability to hold his own at the position.
Regardless of whether he feels more comfortable down the order or not, his team and his country need him.
With Clarke at three, the innings can be gain some structure and a foundation can be built around him, such as with Ponting during his golden years.
My team for the first Test in The Ashes would be as follows:
1. David Warner
2. Ed Cowan
3. Michael Clarke
4. Phil Hughes
5. Adam Voges
6. Matthew Wade
7. Michell Johnson
8. Peter Siddle
9. Mitchell Starc
10. James Pattinson
11. Nathan Lyon
12th Man – Jackson Bird
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