Despite pleas from Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting to pick and stick with Australia’s brittle Ashes batting order, overnight the selectors knifed top order batsman Usman Khawaja, and promoted James Faulkner to bat at seven on debut.
Makes sense?
Faulkner’ recognition means 17 of the big 18-man Australian squad have worn a baggy green this tour, Matthew Wade is the only one to miss out.
Let’s start from the beginning.
A 16-man Ashes squad was named in April, with Mitchell Johnson, Steve Smith, Moises Henriques, Xavier Doherty, and Glenn Maxwell left out after the ill-fated tour of India,
Chris Rogers, back after five years in the wilderness, and talented Tasmanian all-rounder Faulkner, were named.
In June, Smith was added to the squad to cover for Michael Clark’s back, and Ashton Agar to cover for offie Nathan Lyon.
Then the musical chairs started,
First Test at Trent Bridge – Watson, Rogers, Cowan, Clarke, Smith, Hughes, Haddin, Siddle, Starc, Pattinson, and Agar.
From the fourth Test in India, Watson from 4 to 1, Hughes from 3 to 6, Clarke in at 4 after injury, Haddin in for Wade at 7, Starc in for Johnson at 9, and Agar for Lyon at 11.
Second Test at Lords – Watson, Rogers, Khawaja, Hughes, Clarke, Smith, Haddin, Agar, Siddle, Pattinson, Harris.
Cowan and Starc dropped replaced by Khawaja and Harris, Khawaja to 3, Hughes from 3 to 4, Clarke from 4 to 5, Smith from 5 to 6, Agar from 11 to 8,
Third Test at Old Trafford – Watson, Rogers, Khawaja, Clarke, Smith, Warner, Gaddin, Siddle, Starc, Harris, Lyon.
Pattinson injured replaced by Starc, Hughes dropped for Warner, and Agar dropped for Lyon – Clarke from 5 to 4, Smith from 6 to 5, Warner at 6.
Fourth Test at Chester-le-Street – Warner, Rogers, Khawaja, Clarke, Smith, Watson, Haddin, Siddle, Harris, Lyon, Bird.
Starc dropped again for Bird, Warner from 6 to 1, Watson from 1 to 6. Harris from 10 to 9, Lyon from 11 to 10.
Fifth Test at The Oval – Warner, Rogers, Watson, Clarke, Smith, Haddin, Faulkner, Siddle, Starc, Harris, Lyon.
Bird dropped for Starc, Khawaja dropped for Faulkner, Watson from 6 to 3, Haddin from 7 to 6, Faulkner to bat 7.
The summation of all that is only Clarke, Haddin, Rogers, Smith, Siddle, and Watson will have played all five Ashes Tests, creating little stability.
Harris will have played four. Khawaja, Lyon, Starc, and Warner three each. Pattinson, Agar, and Hughes two each. With Cowan, Bird, and Faulkner one each.
So what does that tell us?
The pleas of Waugh and Ponting have fallen on deaf ears.
Rogers will be the only Australian batsmen in five Tests to bat in the same position.
Rogers, Clarke, Siddle, and Harris are the only Australians deserving of automatic selection, that’s why 17 have been used in the series.
Khawaja, Hughes, and Starc, arguably the three best of the new breed, have been selected and shunted. Certainly no pick and stick there.
Hopefully Warner has sorted out his personal problems, and will play a huge role with Rogers in the return series.
And what to do with Watson? Selectors are damned if they pick him, and damned if they don’t.
Australian coach Darren Lehmann has warned this Test at The Oval will define future careers.
Shane Watson will be one of them.
JimmyB
Guest
That's called being a supporter Craig, it can be a pretty thankless task sometimes, although it's worth sticking with it through the bad times, because it makes you appreciate the good times. Chin up mate.
Tim
Guest
Khawaja is a class payer but he has been really struggling all tour - look beyond his test average of 19 (from 6 innings) and he has also only averaged 35 in the tour games against much weaker bowlers on flat tracks. His total tour average is 25 - the next worst is your mate Watson with 41 (but he only played two practice innings compared to Khawaja's 4). On top of that, on the Australia A tour Khawaja's average was only 23 from 5 innings. Ahead of the Lord's test, he had 8 practice innings to get himself prepared. So you can't just blame the selectors when the guy has been struggling for form all tour. I'm sorry to see him dropped, but most likely he would do his future chances more harm if he failed again at the Oval - at least now he can pick himself up and go and score some shield runs ahead of the next series. Khawaja is nearly 27 - so not so young anymore - it's time for him to step up and make them pick him again on shield form, then make the most of his chances. At least he won't have pitches prepared for Swann at home....
John Nischke
Guest
Favouritism is the word which should be used here. Its either Selectors Inverarity or Marsh's way... These guys are never in trouble. Inverarity and Marsh are just kicking out players after 1, 2 or 3 games so they can try a below par Tasmanian (Marsh's state) or Western Australian (Inverarity's state) players. Im sure others can see this quite clearly. Revolving door is only meant for hughes, khwaja it seems to me.
Nate stuck in SA
Guest
SO abysmal they won the world cup!
Tim
Guest
Mate, I think Khawaja has only top scored in one of his 6 innings - relative to the other top six batsmen his test scores ranked 4th, 1st, 6th, 3rd, 6th, and equal 3rd. If he could have top scored a second time he would have saved his bacon - but sadly his aggregate average across those 3 games also ranks 6th. Unfortunately (I like Khawaja) in the last tour game he had a final chance to impress but he again ranked 6th which makes it look like his form & confidence is down given he is a class player. Interestingly, Khawaja and Faulkner have batted in 4 innings together this tour - Faulkner has outscored him twice, and was 22* compared to Khawaja's 27. The other Innings Khawaja got 73 and Faulkner was 5* so have to give that to one Khawaja. But still means that Faulkner has done equal or better than Khawaja 3 out of four times this tour against the same attack. You can't conclude that Faulkner is a better batsman (Khawaja has a vastly superior FC record), but it does seem that he is as good as an out of form Khawaja which is what we have at the moment....
Nate stuck in SA
Guest
I suspect it is experience that helps close out games when things are in the balance. there is very little test experience in the team.
Nate stuck in SA
Guest
i see the difference Hughes bats at Adeliade.
hugh jarse
Guest
I have been a bit of a Khawaja fan, but I think his biggest problem is betwen his ears. Batting at three in test matches, he continually plonks his front foot forward, puts his head down and is happy that he's playing a straight defensive shot. If he's not prepared to at least try to rotate the strike then he should be dropped in favour of someone smarter. However, I don't think we have someone smart enough to bat at 3.
Antho
Guest
Australian cricket is a farce! Stop rotating players! give them a chance to flourish. If S Marsh had been given that respect he'd still be batting at 3 now!!!! Selectors have to consider S Marsh for return series at home. This team is a shambles....faulkner....please!!!!
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
have Suisse put something in the selectors multivitemans? The atmosphere in the Aus camp must be totally depressing by now.
James P
Guest
I'll definitely be barracking for Australia to win - but I really think the selectors need a kick up the ass. A serious kick. What I don't get, is that a large proportion of the comments on the roar are broadly consistent. We all knew that picking Maxwell and Doherty in India was a joke and posted before the disaster unfolded. We all know that playing 5 batsmen in a team which is struggling to score runs is a dumb idea and that you need to give players a decent run in the side. What is the point in randomly changing the side for the last test?
James P
Guest
Starc clearly doesn't have very good first class results but he has been picked and repaid the selectors by having test results which are worse than his first class results. There are 63 Australian pace bowlers who have bowled more than 2000 balls in test cricket. Starc is number 53 in between Bichel and Kasprowicz. He is a clear lightweight in both test and first class cricket and I can see no logic for him to be picked. That said, if you are going to pick him, then at least be consistent and don't drop the poor bugger after every test.
Gr8rWeStr
Guest
Bell, Cook and KP may have struggled early against a dominant Australian team but both Cook and KP have never had a career Test average under 40 and the lowest Bell's dropped to was 38.90.
Hookin' YT
Guest
Watching lots of Shield cricket?
Hookin' YT
Guest
Yep, should be a corker. Lets Smith charge down. Brilliant.
Genius Selector
Guest
Khawaja has been dropped after 3 games when he's top scored in 2 of them- Go figure??? Even worse they promote Shane Watson to 3 when he should b the one dropped 2 begin with- go figure??? They bring in another all-rounder (Faulkner) to bat at 7 so we're playing 2 all-rounders- go figure (1 because Watson can't bat)??? So Cowan gets nearly 20 games 2 establish himself, Hughes gets 9 and khawaja our most promising young bat with a test cricket technique at least gets only 3 games and as mentioned top scores in 2 of them. The worst thing is that the 2 most important batting positions 1 and 3 in my opinion are filled by t20 sloggers in warner and Watson. This is y we r where we r. Its going 2 be another painful one to watch for Australians.
Gr8rWeStr
Guest
The last time Steve Waugh had a career avg < 25 was at the end of his 10th Test. The last time David Boon had a career avg < 25 was at the end of his 10th Test. The last time Ian Chappell had a career avg < 25 was at the end of his 12th Test.
Hookin' YT
Guest
Have you and I served together in the military? Gold mate.
Chris
Guest
Definitely. That's why the selectors are often looking past just statistics to how the play. Many a medium pacer has good stats at first class cricket, but on the pitches prepared for tests against test quality batsmen they'd get hammered. It's why someone like Starc has generated so much interest from the selectors even before he'd had the FC results to justify it. Tall, quick, and swings both the new and old ball. It's a really good combination to give you a great chance of being successful in test cricket. While the medium pacer picking up wickets at FC level on greentops against lower quality batsmen won't be considered.
Hookin' YT
Guest
Not a fan of professional all rounders. You must be good in your own right at some aspect. Sobers and Kallis being freaky. You have to get picked at a core skill...Miller, Hadlee, Imran , Botham vs Sobers, Kallis...