You would think the national selection panel of Rod Marsh, Mark Waugh, Darren Lehmann, and Trevor Hohns would pick the very best side to open a five-game ODI series against South Africa at the WACA tonight.
That being the case, how on earth can they drop Steve Smith?
With Australia’s batting so brittle, the one bloke you can count on not to go for the glory shots is the 25-year-old Smith.
Or have the selectors forgotten that in the last three-game ODI series against Pakistan on hard to score off wickets in the UAE, Smith was the man-of-the-series with digs of 101, 12, and 77.
Yet Smith’s been dumped, and George Bailey, Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Marsh have been given a guernsey.
Bailey’s three digs in the UAE were 18, 28 and a duck, Maxwell 21, 76 and 20 – and Marsh didn’t play.
Smith and Bailey are rock-solid team-men. Maxwell’s a jack-man. Marsh is somewhere in between – he’s only played nine ODIs.
Smith is the best fieldsman of the four, anywhere from the cordon to the country and his leggies may have been handy.
So there can be no justification in dropping Smith. None whatsoever. If you needed someone in the trenches, you would want Smith by your side to deal with the world’s best pace attack of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander.
And who have the selectors thrown in against the super trio?
Mitchell Johnson is right up there with them, but Nathan Coulter-Nile and Josh Hazlewood don’t cut the mustard ahead of James Faulkner and Mitchell Starc, who have been sent back to the Sheffield Shield.
Hello?
What will the likes of South Africa’s top batsmen in Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kok, Faf du Plessis, AB de Villiers, Rilee Rossouw and David Miller do to that attack?
And count themselves lucky JP Duminy is injured and out of the series.
Mitchell Johnson had better be at his most explosive best, while David Warner, Aaron Finch, Shane Watson and Michael Clarke had also better be playing well with the bat if the Australians are going to compete.
The Australian selectors haven’t made it a level playing field, let’s see how it pans out tonight.
It will be especially interesting to see how the spat between Clarke and Steyn – that Clarke started in South Africa during the Test series won 2-1 by Australia – plays out.
Expect Clarke to cop plenty of ‘chin music’ tonight from a fired up and unforgiving Steyn, and for the rest of the series.
Broken-hearted Toy
Guest
But he's hard to fit in if Clarke is fit as I said. He'll be ok with Clarke missing, fits in perfectly as pretty much plays the same role.
Don Freo
Guest
I'd have all of Maxwell, Marsh, Faulkner and NCN...and Watson with Watson the least secure. At the same time, I wouldn't be counting NCN as an all rounder but as a pure quick. The other stuff is just a bonus. Faulkner is one of the first picked for mine.
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
The article compared Faulkner's bowling directly with Coulter-Nile's, nothing else. Although also, you pick a whole team to balance itself out. So you weigh up batting power and bowling power across the whole eleven. So you might get more with Coulter-Nile's bowling, knowing he can bat a bit, but add Maxwell in the place of a spinner, to bolster the batting in place of Faulkner's higher batting prowess.
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
Yep, a stellar 2013. But there's a few who've blitzed it for a year and then fell off the cliff. If Bailey's in there a few more times then you can give him an automatic selection pass.
Don Freo
Guest
Ahhh! Macca. I miss him already.
JMW
Guest
I'd like to see Smith bat first drop in ODI and tempo the innings. His fielding is sublime, his bowling adds variety, it would be good captaincy experience and his fitness is superior to Clarke.
JMW
Guest
Why doesn't Sayers get more mentions? Is his record inferior to those picked and discussed? Rhetorical question...
JMW
Guest
Is SFL Macca in disguise?
Nudge
Guest
Grow up, your too funny shortpete
Broken-hearted Toy
Guest
But where do you put Smith? Now that Clarke is injured again, fine, he's got a ready made spot but he is hard to fit in otherwise. He's not a back-end slogger no point in expecting him to play that role when others can do it better.
Broken-hearted Toy
Guest
Do you lot really want Smith to go back to batting in the late order slog positions? Because that's what you are asking for by having him take Maxwell or Marsh's place. I think it's been proven by now that he is not at his best there. I think he's Clarke's long-term replacement at 4.
Jo M
Guest
Don't you recall in Zimbabwe just a couple of months ago that Clarke publicly said that Smith should have been in the team after he was dropped by the selectors and Lehmann said that Clarke shouldn't be saying anything about selections publicly? Even at the toss for this game Clarke gets asked why Smith isn't playing and Clarke's response was to ask Rod Marsh. Clarke hasn't been given a team he wanted for a while now.
Tom from Perth
Roar Rookie
Looks like Bailey's right back into the contest after being dropped 4 or so times haha.
Shortfineleg
Guest
DF, all you do is spit at players you don't like such as O'Keefe. Harping, belittling, badgering, white-anting his manifest achievements over 10 years. Whereas, I acknowledge achievement on the field. Grow up.
Shortfineleg
Guest
How pathetic to try and sweep aside a litany of documented incidents documented below.
Don Freo
Guest
There you go "one swallow" of pride. How do you feel now? Better? See it's much better to swallow than to spit.
Shortfineleg
Guest
I posted elsewhere congrats to NCN. One swallow doesn't make a summer, but credit where it is due. Whereas trying to continually tear down the fantastic 10 year record of FC success of O'Keefe is pathetic.
Sideline Comm.
Guest
Haha, beat me too it Don.
Don Freo
Guest
Another great call on NCN, ShortPeter. What a cricket brain!!!
Don Freo
Guest
Apparently Clarke threw his toys out of the cot once. Shame! Royal Commission please.