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Any Australian cricket fans suffering a crisis of confidence over our current Test squad and their ability in English conditions need only to turn to the early season performances by some unfancied expatriates for some solace in a rather counter-intuitive place:
The dreary, grey, long-sleeve sweatered and anachronistic world of County cricket.
In particular, a handful of Australian journeymen are currently demonstrating the possibilities in the combination of a swinging Duke and early-season green pitches.
Though none of the current slew of bowlers are in contention for the Ashes, their successes offer hope for an attack inexperienced in England.
Two-time baggy-green wearer Trent Copeland, who has faded from the thoughts of Australian selectors, is in great form with the ball for Northamptonshire.
In the five opening first-class matches of the season he has taken 23 wickets, including a career-best 10/113 against Kent and a seven-wicket haul against Leicestershire, and notched up a five-for in the one-day game against fancied Sussex.
Copeland has found a ready bowling partner in Adelaide-born 29-year-old Steve Crook, who with 24 wickets at under 20, sits fourth on the County tally.
Crook has also surpassed expectations with the bat, knocking three consecutive half-centuries as Northamptonshire’s top order has struggled for consistency.
Even further from the thoughts of the National Selection Panel would be journeymen quick Michael Hogan. Hogan, a recent addition from Western Australia (where his loss was mourned by Justin Langer), has taken to County cricket brilliantly, taking 25 wickets at 17 apiece in a Glamorgan side loaded with Australians.
Further down the wicket tally is Hogan’s teammate Jim Allenby.
An all-rounder who has professed previously he’d play for England if offered the chance, Allenby has taken 15 wickets at the more-than-respectable average of 21 – though the true illustration of his worth to the Welsh side is in his batting – 468 runs at an average of 67.
While the exploits of Copeland, Crook, Hogan and Allenby are tempered somewhat by Northamptonshire and Glamorgan’s position in the lower division of County cricket, the quality of teams being dismantled by Sussex’s 33-year old Steve Magoffin, makes his form even more impressive.
A hard-working bowler who performed admirably in his Shield days without ever cracking the upper echelon of bowlers, Magoffin sits second on the wicket tally with 26 scalps from five games.
This is including a devastating spell of 8-20 from 11 overs last night to rout Marcus Trescothick and Alviro Petersen’s Somerset for 76.
Sussex sit fourth in division one, behind Ed Cowan’s Yorkshire in second.
Cowan, equal parts admired and admonished by Australian supporters for his penchant for invariably making middling scores, has lived up to this reputation – in eight innings he averages 35, with scores of 61, 1, 59, 15*, 40, 35, 15 and 20.
Cowan’s berth at the top of the Australian batting order is being challenged by two players whose team occupy the summit of Division One.
Table-topper Middlesex’s unanticipated rise to the top owes a huge debt to the in-form opening pair of Sam Robson and Chris Rogers.
One right-handed, the other left-handed, one young and earnest the other wise and balanced, the chalk-and cheese approach of the pair has proven incredibly effective thus far – from nine innings they average an opening stand in excess of 80 runs.
Individually, Robson has made 645 runs at 107 per innings, behind only the dangerously in-form Joe Root, while Rogers has been only slightly less impressive, compiling 495 runs at an average of 71.
And while it is highly unlikely that Robson will enter into the Ashes equation – and even more unlikely that if he does it will be on the side of the tourists – every run he scores between now and next year, when he qualifies for England, will prove another reason for the Australian selectors to test his resolve before England get the chance to.
While the rich vein of form the Australian contingent find themselves in doesn’t necessarily correlate to Ashes form – at the most, two of those in form will find themselves in the first XI come Trent Bridge.
It does lay down a challenge for both the Champions Trophy and Ashes squads; the off-casts and journeymen are mastering English conditions, let’s hope our Test team can emulate them.
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