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Australia must stick with Alex Doolan instead of instigating yet another shuffle of the Test batting line-up.
Doolan was handed the mightiest of challenges a debutant could face – countering the world’s most-vaunted pace attack in their own backyard.
He may have only produced 186 runs at 31 over the three-Test series in South Africa. But given the degree of difficulty he encountered, such a return is equivalent to an average of 40 in a home series against the comparatively benign pace attacks of India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan or the West Indies.
Had he debuted next summer instead and accumulated say, 320 runs at 40 in the four-Test series against India, would there be so many calls for him to be dropped? It seems very unlikely.
Australia are in dire need of a sturdy first drop. They require a circumspect number three, capable of halting the fielding side’s momentum after an early wicket.
The Aussies have an array of stroke players in their top seven in David Warner, Michael Clarke, Steven Smith, Shane Watson and Brad Haddin. The best fit at first drop is a grinding, patient batsman in the mould of Chris Rogers.
The veteran opener’s role in the side has been pivotal in Australia’s resurgence. His steadying influence allows others, not least Warner, to unleash their attacking games with greater confidence.
Doolan showed enough in South Africa to suggest he has the capacity to perform a similar role now and perhaps for many years once Rogers retires.
Granted, he looked scratchy in three of his six innings. But not scratchy in the sense that he appeared liable to be dismissed at any moment. Rather, that he was not hitting the ball cleanly and battled to pierce the field or get off strike.
It is no great surprise a batsman playing in his first Test series would at times struggle to score freely against the likes of Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander on decks which did not foster strokeplay.
Cricket fans can be a fickle bunch. For years many Aussie supporters have bemoaned the fact the side’s batsmen were not willing to scrap for runs early in their innings and instead tried to bully the bowlers from the get-go.
Yet, here we had a new batsman prepared to shelve his ego to try to eke out runs with as little risk as possible and he was panned for batting too slowly. Not to mention the fact Doolan’s batting partners were often scoring at a brisk rate, meaning there was no rush for him to up the ante.
In a perfect world, Doolan would have moved the run rate along at a quicker pace while remaining just as solid. In a perfect world he would be Hashim Amla or Ricky Ponting 2.0.
But after the number of first drops Australia have churned through in the past 18 months, maybe fans should stop seeking a ‘perfect’ fit and be happy with an adequate one.
Watson, Clarke, Warner, Phil Hughes, Usman Khawaja and Ed Cowan have all been trialled in that position since Ponting retired. Why ditch the seventh batsman to occupy that position simply because he did not immediately dominate the world’s leading pace unit in their home conditions?
Considering the talent and aggression within Australia’s top seven, Doolan’s main role should be crease occupation. Get the shine off the ball, help to prevent collapses and set a platform for the likes of Clarke, Smith and Watson to exploit.
He had reasonable success in doing just that against South Africa. The Proteas’ are known for being lethal with the new ball.
The main challenge when batting against them is to survive the opening 25 overs with as few wickets down as possible. South Africa’s lack of a quality spinner means their attack often becomes significantly less potent after this period.
Over Doolan’s six innings in the series, he spent an average of 100 minutes at the crease.
Only once did he bat for less than an hour. On that occasion, in the first dig at Port Elizabeth, he was at the crease for 29 minutes before receiving a very good delivery from sharp left-armer Wayne Parnell.
The one obvious issue with Doolan’s efforts was of the five times he batted for more than an hour, only once did he go on to make an influential score – his 89 in the first Test.
Failing to capitalise on such good work is something for which he has been criticized at Shield level. Hopefully he can fix this problem and begin to exploit his capacity for weathering the storm early in his innings.
If he can’t then he should be dropped. But Doolan needs to be given time.
Clearly some people disagree with me, but I felt the Australian batting looked more stable thanks to Doolan’s presence.
He could prove to be just what Australia need at first drop.