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Last week I talked about Australia’s seam bowlers. Let’s now look at Australia’s batting options for the upcoming Ashes series.
Ed Cowan is a solid opening batsman, has a strong defence and plays the ball late and straight. These are great traits of a top order player.
With a Test average of just over 30, he does not convert as many starts as he should into big scores.
However, he is a good option, Australia will need their openers to absorb pressure early from the likes of James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan, Steven Finn and Graham Onions.
Chris Rogers is a surprising selection in some eyes, yet I believe this was a straightforward decision.
Australian cricket likes to talk up Sheffield Shield cricket as the best domestic competition in the world. Chris Rogers has dominated it for years now, so it makes sense the players that are consistently successful in a structure you are happy with get selected.
You have to trust the systems you have in place.
The Sheffield Shield is a great first class system (as long as the Big Bash does not keep encroaching on it, but that is for another article!) and players should be rewarded for consistently performing in it.
David Warner may well be asked to bat in another position for the Ashes. The selectors have not picked the 35-year-old Chris Rogers to carry the drinks so either Cowan or Warner will be moved.
While Warner can have an impact at the top of the order with his attacking game, I potentially see a role for him batting four after the top three have got through the early stages of the innings.
He needs to be clear with what shots he plays – he plays best when he looks to hit off the back foot through the offside with a horizontal bat, hitting the ball at the top of the bounce as opposed to a vertical bat.
This minimises his chance of getting caught in the slip cordon.
His footwork will need to be decisive and sharp and with his vast array of shots, I have no doubt he could be a real force in this series.
With a slightly unorthodox technique, Phil Hughes has the most important attribute for a batsman -genuine run making ability.
This may come across as a silly comment but I bet every club cricketer reading this knows of a player who looks a million bucks in the nets and smashes it on the ball machine with a perfect, ‘textbook’ technique yet never seems to score the runs out in the middle to match the net/bowling machine form.
With Phil, he finds a way to get runs even if at times he looks a bit ungainly. He can punish bad deliveries and finds ways to rotate the strike with the better deliveries.
England will bomb him with short stuff aimed at his right armpit and will not bowl wider than off stump. Anderson will look to get him nicking an away swinger after setting him up by bringing the ball back into him.
The challenge will be for Phil to combat this and thrive. He is up to this challenge in my opinion.
Forget that he had a poor tour of India – this lad can play and will silence all his doubters this Ashes series.
One gets feeling the selectors are not convinced Usman Khawaja has what it takes to succeed.
He is a stylish player who, with his body language at times, can lead people to believe he does not care or want it enough.
From what I have seen, this is not the case and you just have to speak to Darren Lehmann, his coach at Queensland, to tell you all you need to know:
“Great lad, great work ethic, serious player.” That’s Boof’s thoughts on Usman and since he is one of the best coaches and man managers in world cricket today, that’s good enough for me.
Michael Clarke has been in the form of his life over the last couple of years. Fast, decisive footwork and an ability to punish not only bad balls but decent deliveries are trademarks of his batting.
English conditions dictate he will need to continue to keep his footwork sharp. Will his fitness affect this? I am not talking aerobically/anaerobically but of his lower back problems.
Australia depend heavily on their captain and the temptation will be for him to bat higher, which I can completely understand.
However, the statistics clearly show he does his best work at number five and highlights the opportunity for Australia’s top order to step up to their responsibility.
I touched on Shane Watson in last week’s post. Raw numbers show he has performed well as an opener more than any other position, so that is something for the selectors to think about.
Much like Cowan, Watson has struggled to convert good starts into big scores and his biggest challenge is to learn to rotate the strike. If he finds himself in a middle order role, this will be even more apparent.
If he is bowling he will likely play, and bat six with Haddin at seven. If he is fit enough to bowl in a domestic T20 competition (IPL), he is fit enough to bowl for his country in Tests.