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No, you didn’t misread Ashton Agar’s name, you read correctly. Ashton Turner has been called into the Australian cricket team to play Sussex in a tour match this week.
It’s the second time a young spinner has been called upon to play in somewhat surprising circumstances on this tour, after Agar was selected over Nathan Lyon in the first test.
This time Cricket Australia has taken it to a whole new level.
Turner has not played a game of first class cricket before.
Cricket Australia have launched a positive PR campaign – with Turner trumpeted as a ‘potential star’ (David Warner, watch out – someone else is coming for those sock commercials!) and a “handy batsman” to go with his bowling.
The highlight of his illustrious career so far is taking eight wickets in the under-19s World Cup. The only issue with that being he took four of those in a single match – against Nepal. No offence to Nepal but I didn’t realise the cream of the teenage batting in that part of the world was considered a requisite tune-up before joining an Ashes tour.
So, apart from removing four of the next Sachin Tendulkars from the Nepalese batting machine, Turner took four wickets the rest of the tournament. Yet Cricket Australia still described his spin is hard to pick “even by some of the sub-continental players”. Which is why he took just four more wickets, obviously.
Now, once we get past his occasionally unplayable spin, we get to the crux of the issue: Turner can bat.
If there’s anything the current administration love more than a young spinner right now, it’s one who’s been selected because he can bat too.
It’s with that kind of selection foresight we find ourselves with the best batting tail in world cricket but have rotated through about three thousand actual spinning options since Shane Warne retired.
Which leads me to the real, underlying problem with this selection – Cricket Australia’s selection policy is now mirroring their scheduling arrangements in having zero respect for Sheffield Shield cricket.
The guy hasn’t even played a full season of professional cricket yet, let alone competed on a variety of pitches in different cities with changing batting strengths on show over a length of a Shield season.
Agar, with his hip niggle – probably more related to getting used to work loads – will attest to the fact long-form cricket is a hard, toiling task that isn’t learned while you are rushing through 10-over spells in the slow middle overs of a one day match.
Picking a spinner who hasn’t even had to run out for his state in a four-day game signals a new low in selection policy for Australia.
Yes, it is a tour match. But a tour match should be used to seriously prepare for a string of tough Test matches that will examine the skill and resolve of our players in every possible way.
A player is supposed to graduate from his first grade state cricket into the Test team via a Tour match, not the other way around.
Lest you worry; like Usman Khawaja, both Ashton Turner and 12th man, Travis Head, have spend a lot of time around the Australian set-up and training with the touring party.
We can all see how Khawaja has come along in leaps and bounds since he’s been effectively squad managed for a year instead of spending time playing tough cricket against experienced sides trying to win a match instead of a net session.
I’m not trying to be offensive toward Turner – and I certainly wouldn’t expect him to turn down the chance to play. But there’s got to be a level of planning and due course, treating the Australian cricket team like this isn’t going to pay dividends in the long run.
It’s another example of a deterioration over time if Australia’s first class strength.
We now find ourselves in a situation where Ashton Agar and Nathan Lyon, both with Test and some first class experience playing in a Ashes warm up game with a player who once got a ‘fourfa’ against Nepal.
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