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While the Australian team hierarchy have been quite smart about resting our Ashes heroes over the last few weeks, the door has also been opened for some young players to come into the one-day side and show their wares on the national stage.
Some of them, like James Faulkner, have made every post in a winner when getting the rare outing away from the water bottles and into the actual playing XI.
I even went as far as saying on Friday night – well before the final onslaught, I might add – that young James might have given us a new verb; that is, that England were ‘Faulknered’ at the ‘Gabba.
Others, like Nathan Coulter-Nile perhaps, have had the odd moment – like Sunday – but haven’t quite allowed themselves to relax enough to show us what they can really do.
Nevertheless, in thinking about all this over the weekend, something fairly obvious stuck out: the Australian selectors, when thinking about a team for the coloured gear, are trying to find 11 allrounders.
Seriously. In the first two one-dayers, we’re already seen Shane Watson, Glenn Maxwell, Faulkner, and Coulter-Nile in action. Dan Christian was brought into the squad to extend Watson’s well-earned break, and played on Sunday in Sydney.
Christian’s form for Brisbane in the BBL has been good, especially with the bat, and I had little doubt he would play once he was brought in.
He’s clearly in the one-day plans going forward, and so this was the perfect chance to see how he goes against one of the better one-day sides in the world, even if they’re not at the top of their game at the moment.
And that move was justified well and truly, with Christian bowling an excellent spell toward the end of the England innings to finish with 2/52, only blown out with his last over costing 16 runs.
So that’s five allrounders in the last ten days. That’d be enough, right?
Well, I’m not so sure about that.
Sitting on the fringe, surely, must be Steven Smith and Cameron White.
Now, sure, I’m probably extending the definition of ‘allrounder’ a touch by including these two, but whatever we or they think of their bowling right now, they do remain genuine bowling options.
Smith’s form with the bat, in the field, and his captaincy have all been from the top draw since resuming his BBL post with the Sydney Sixers after the completion of the successful Ashes campaign. He got his Australian start in the limited overs formats, and a recall surely can’t be far off.
In fact, it’s closer than that obviously, with Smith called in as cover for George Bailey’s groin injury for Sunday’s third one-dayer.
White, in the words of Australian coach Darren Lehmann, is “very close” to a national recall, and he may well be in the batting purple patch of his life. In all forms this Australian summer, White has amassed more than 1100 runs at better than 54, and with a century and 11 50s. And it’s still January, remember.
I don’t think it’s too big a stretch to suggest had Sunday’s game been played in Melbourne, instead of Sydney, it quite likely would’ve been White called in on standby for Bailey.
Regardless, he’s definitely in the frame, and his recall to the Australian Twenty20 side would seem to confirm that.
Mitchell Marsh might not be as close as Smith and White right at this point, but he is going pretty well for the Perth Scorchers now he’s returned to fitness. He did also play three games at the ICC Champions Trophy in England in June last year.
Marsh could be a smokey for the Australian squad to Bangladesh for the World Twenty20, in March, and from there you just never know. There actually isn’t a lot of cricket for the Australian side over the next six months or so.
So with the five allrounders we’ve seen in these last few games, and the three more I’ve named here, that’s now a total of eight.
Nine, if we throw Mitchell Johnson into the mix, which we nearly have to do, for the same reasons used to include Smith and White.
Add Michael Clarke and David Warner to this list – who have both bowled this summer, if we really want to push it – and the all-round batting and ‘keeping of Brad Haddin, and suddenly there’s a matchday 12.
Warner, Watson, White, Clarke, Smith, Maxwell, Haddin, Marsh, Faulkner, Christian, Johnson, Coulter-Nile.
It’s just crazy enough to work.
Do I think that’s where we’re heading? No, not really.
But in a World Cup squad, it wouldn’t surprise me if there’s anywhere up four or five allrounders of the genuine kind, and even another three or four or five of the ‘might be stretching it’ kind.
Certainly, the selectors are trying to build a squad chock full of options, and that’s not a bad thing if Australia are to become just the second country to win a World Cup on home soil.