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Number three: traditionally the batting spot held by the most competent batsman in a team.
It is the positions for the man who can come out and steady the ship after an early innings failure, absorb the pressure, take the shine off the new ball and, by putting a high price on his wicket, bat multiple sessions to score centuries.
The man who can come out after a good opening stand and really turn the screws, unleashing every shot in the book and taking the match away from the opposition.
Rahul Dravid. Hashim Amla. Ricky Ponting. These are the men that occupy the furnace of first drop.
For Australia, the position is a worry. Since Ponting’s last outing at first drop there have been 27 Tests split between nine different batsman returning an average of 25.2 runs (one century, eight fifties).
Before anyone starts pining for the return of Ricky I should point out that his last five Tests at first drop returned only one half-century at an average of 17.9 runs. By any measure, the new kids have out-performed the last year of Ponting’s tenure at number three.
The fifth Test at The Oval looms and Usman Khawaja seems destined to be dropped again (after just three Tests, again).
Is this really any more than rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic?
Australia do not have a number three batsman. I have expounded at length on the short-comings of Shane Watson and how he just isn’t suited to Test cricket, let alone the highest-pressure spot in the batting line-up.
If young players like Phil Hughes and Khawaja are ever to make something of their talent, need to be protected at number five or six in order to start their careers.
Steve Smith is a middle order batsman, as is Clarke who will have to bat at four for the foreseeable future regardless of his (or the fans’) superstitions about him at five.
The only sensible solution is to play an opener at first drop. Someone to protect the newer players.
I’m not sure who that opener is, but that is the solution that should be pursued.
If the Australian selectors cannot see past Shane Watson’s performances in coloured pyjamas (and every indication is that they can’t) then opening with Watson and Warner and playing the solid and unflappable Rogers at first drop, followed by Clarke at four is probably the most sensible solution to Australia’s top order stability.
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