Michael Clarke’s injury and the dumping of Peter Siddle has given Australia its youngest Test line-up in some time for the second Test against India.
Australia have six players aged 28 or younger in their team, after having relied so heavily upon veterans for the past few years.
Last summer, as the Australians demolished England 5-0, they famously went through the series with an unchanged line-up. It was a commendable feat. The worrying aspect was that the XI they fielded had an average age of 31.3.
Fast forward 12 months and Australia last week selected an almost identical side for the first Test against Adelaide. Only one change had been made to the all-conquering Ashes XI, with veteran batsman George Bailey having been replaced by 23-year-old all-rounder Mitch Marsh.
Australia hobbled over the line in that match in a manner reflective of the struggles of several of their veterans. The home side’s three most influential players for the match were 25-year-old Steve Smith, 27-year-old Nathan Lyon and 28-year-old David Warner.
Australia’s other young player, Marsh, made 81 runs for the match, including a breakneck 40 from 26 balls in the second dig which allowed Australia to make a crucial early declaration.
Meanwhile, six Australians in the twilight of their careers all laboured for various reasons. Chris Rogers and Brad Haddin, both 37, continued their concerning form troughs.
Paceman Ryan Harris, 35, picked up yet another injury in his first game back after a long layoff. Skipper Michael Clarke, 33, had his body fall apart again, casting doubt over his playing future.
Shane Watson, also 33 years old, looked decidedly out of nick with the bat and faces heavy pressure from blossoming fellow all-rounder Marsh.
And Peter Siddle may be only 30 years old but appears to be in the dying days of his Test career after 18 months of innocuous performances marked by a decided reduction in pace and penetration.
Siddle, Clarke and Harris will not play at Brisbane and there are no guarantees any of them will take part in next year’s Ashes, or any matches beyond that.
Rogers, Haddin and Watson, too, are at a juncture in their careers where it could all end very quickly. When players push well into their 30s it often ends in a hurry, either because of physical frailty or a sudden plummet in their performances.
That is why I have been saying for the past 18 months that Australia must begin to plan carefully for the future rather than pushing on and on with the same crop of veterans.
With Clarke forced out of the team by injury, Siddle by form and Harris by an ageing body, Australia’s experience and leadership has been eroded dramatically.
That means the selectors now are unlikely to want to drop veterans like Haddin, Rogers and Watson in the near future for fear of leaving the side too green.
Yet all three of those players, the first two in particular, should not be indispensable given their recent efforts. Haddin and Rogers, in particular, are wobbling and at 37 years old could be finished.
But the selectors are now all but forced to retain at least one of them, perhaps through to the next Ashes, because they cannot afford to lose too much experience too quickly.
After their veteran-heavy side defeated South Africa in March, Australia had the perfect time to move on from some of its old players and begin generational change.
Yet here we were last week with the same group of seven players whose age, health or form meant they probably wouldn’t last more than another 12 to 18 months – Haddin, Rogers, Clarke, Watson, Siddle, Harris and Mitch Johnson.
Johnson is the only one of those seven whose immediate future appears rosy. Australia must pray that at least four of the other six find a way to return to health or something close to their best form or the side will be in a massive hole heading into the Ashes in seven months’ time.
The last time Australia resisted generational change they unexpectedly lost veteran batsmen Mike Hussey and Ricky Ponting in a matter of weeks and then promptly went nine Tests without a win.
Change is again being forced upon them. They are better placed to adapt to it now, but further unforeseen occurrences could derail the side. If it does, the selectors will only have themselves to blame for their lack of foresight.
Peter
Roar Rookie
We are the crucible of Australian cricket.
Alexander Bonacci
Roar Rookie
Having Mitch Marsh in the team puts more pressure on Watto to make a score as his no longer our all rounder and I do believe he should be replaced with Burns or Ferguson. However with Rogers we need him for the Ashes. His experience and form in England is something we need to win the Ashes over there. Haddin is still the best keeper we have. Does need to do more with bat, but if we need Haddin to score runs our top order has failed.
Shouts Chen
Guest
Steve Smith - good captain. Hope he will captain in the Ashes 2015 Tour and One Day Internationals.
Craig Watson
Guest
Spot On Jo M. Little tiresome this constant accusation of a Blues conspiracy and selector bias .
jamesb
Guest
I'll give you two players, Cowan and Burns. One as a short term option, the other long term.
Craig Watson
Guest
Now that Smith is captain Haddin must stay to help his skipper and close friend settle into the tough role. If the panel decide to finish Hadds career in England then they should take along Sam Whiteman as his understudy.
Craig Watson
Guest
Silk or Carters deserve to be ahead of Bancroft after strong shield form last year. Bancroft has only started hitting his straps this summer. Good future though after a terrific Under19 showing a year or two ago. His time will come. I still have my doubts about Starc. He leaks too many runs if the ball is not swinging. Unable to build pressure because he can not bowl two good balls together. I would pencil in Behrendorff for Starc.
jamesb
Guest
Alice Springs If it wasn't for NSW, God knows where Australian cricket would become. Sure, Hazelwood bowled well, while Starc was rubbish. But WA player, S.Marsh dropped a couple of catches where both should have been caught. Before this Test, I argued for Burns to be in the side rather then S.Marsh. Like Jo M said, he better make some runs. Look, I hate it where people on this site still have this NSW conspiracy going with the Australian side. If anything, it deflects the real issue, where the other states struggle to produce players.
Craig Watson
Guest
Right James. Warner and Smith are carrying the other under performers. If blokes like Watson or Rogers are not getting the job done then bring in some who will.
Jo M
Guest
Bit over the top don't you think? If the NSW batsmen weren't there in the last test we would have had no runs. 3 out of the 4 wickets today also went to NSW. I hope Shaun Marsh gets some runs because he is going to be crucified if he doesn't. I hope Rogers gets some runs as well.
deccas
Guest
because thats about when ponting should have retired!
Broken-hearted toy
Guest
Sean Abbott to bat at number 6? Are you for real? I realise people really feel sorry for the guy but seriously...
Bearfax
Guest
I like the move towards younger players, but its more to do with players who produce the goods. That's where the selectors seem to falter in some areas. Hazlewood, Starc even Mitch Marsh are steps in the right direction. But there's still a lot of dead wood there and some recently added.
ajay
Guest
cooper and lynn are guns and all formats players....
alicesprings
Guest
Heck with 7 NSWelshmen out there maybe they should rename the team. But yeah there's no bias going on with selectors...
Peter
Roar Rookie
Generational change sounds good until you have days like this and start missing an experienced head.
dan ced
Guest
Cowan and Voges who are lighting up the shield are both experienced campaigners. Ferguson and Cooper are of that second tier experience, Burns is almost up there too. Lynn and Khawaja need runs post-injury to figure again. Silk just flat out needs form. Cosgrove hasn't had an amazing start to the season but last year he should've factored into the equation. Any of the above batsmen should have more claim than Watson. Rogers had a good shield game before this series so I will give him the rest of this series to prove himself. Didn't look good in game 1 though.
dan ced
Guest
You could say the only reason Haddin is still in the team is because the only other keeper CricAUS acknowledge as existing is Wade who is terrible. Right now I'd like to see Ludeman in the test team, and Hartley in the ODI team.
dan ced
Guest
M.Marsh gone done a hamstring! I'd put Ludeman or Hartley in place of Haddin. Burns or Ferguson at #3 Voges at #5 if Clarke isn't fit. I'm going to say "too soon" for the likes of Bancroft, Carters slightly further along. As for a replacement for Mitchell Marsh.. the selectors would look straight at Sean Abbott if they want like for like. That's probably smart with the loss of Watson. So Cowan, Warner, Ferguson, Smith, Voges, Abbott/Burns, Ludeman, Johnson, Starc, Sayers, Lyon. (assuming Harris and Hazelwood are injured)
dan ced
Guest
I was one of the first to call for Cowan's head when he was getting out for 30 off 300 balls with a shitty shot.. but he is in undeniable form and his strike rate is decent. It would be a selection based on logic.