Australia’s Test side is on the cusp of massive generational change, with as many as seven regular players likely to be gone within two years. Which young players are in line to replace these veterans?
In considering this hypothetical question I decided to answer it by selecting an Australian youth Test team made up only of players aged 24 or younger. This is the team I would select right now in such a hypothetical situation.
What do you think of the side I selected Roarers? What would your team look like?
• Jordan Silk (22 years old)
• Ryan Carters (24)
• Chris Lynn (24)
• Peter Handscomb (23)
• Mitch Marsh (vc) (23)
• Sam Whiteman (22)
• James Faulkner (c) (24)
• Ashton Agar (21)
• Mitchell Starc (24)
• James Pattinson (24)
• Jason Behrendorff (24)
• Close calls: Josh Hazlewood (23), Pat Cummins (21), Gurinder Sandhu (21), Travis Head (20), Nic Maddinson (23), Cameron Bancroft (22)
Silk and Carters are my favoured openers, although 22-year-old West Australian Bancroft is a strong contender. Like Carters, he is also a wicketkeeper but has given up the gloves to concentrate on his batting.
The results have been stunning so far, with Bancroft dominating in the Shield this season.
Carters has a similar story. After switching from Victoria to the Blues last summer and shedding the gloves to become an opening batsman, Carters had an astounding 2013-14 season, creaming 861 Shield runs at 54, including three centuries.
Since making a rousing start to his first-class career two years ago, Silk’s form has been indifferent. But his game looks perfectly suited to Test cricket, which demands the kind of patience and circumspection that are hallmarks of his play.
With four centuries inside his first 11 first-class games he has displayed a proven ability to make match-winning scores. Significantly, two of those hundreds came against Queensland attacks led by one of the world’s best bowlers Ryan Harris.
Harris’ Bulls teammate Chris Lynn is the man for the job a three. Although he is a middle order batsman, for the purposes of this exercise he will bat at first drop. Lynn was pressing hard for Test selection until a serious shoulder injury ruled him out of a large chunk of this summer.
Lynn also was on the fast track to the Test side in 2011 when he was named in the Australia A squad to tour Zimbabwe after a scintillating start to his Shield career, which included a ton in just his second match.
Then he was left crestfallen when a finger injury forced him to withdraw from what would have been his first senior international tour.
A versatile and at times destructive strokemaker, Lynn’s first-class average of 43 has him poised to earn a baggy green in the near future. Batting behind him at four in my team is yet another wicketkeeper-turned-batsman in Peter Handscomb.
Matthew Wade’s control of the gloves for Victoria has forced Handscomb to focus on his efforts with the blade. It could turn out to be the making of him as a first-class player. The free-flowing middle order player has smashed attacks in the Shield this season.
At five is a man who has already cracked Test ranks in Mitch Marsh. Despite modest first-class batting figures he has shown during his brief Test career that he has an enormous future at the highest level.
His Warriors teammate Sam Whiteman could be alongside him in the Test team before too long. A wonderfully gifted left hand batsman and neat keeper, Whiteman is a leading contender to replace veteran Brad Haddin, who will likely retire or be moved on in the next 12 months.
At seven I would select the combative James Faulkner. While he is a bowling all-rounder, Tasmania have been batting him in the top six the past two Shield seasons and he has the temperament, technique and talent to push his first-class batting average well above its current mark of 32.
This side would have a phenomenally strong tail, with Agar, Starc and Pattinson all boasting Test batting averages of 30-plus, albeit from small sample sizes.
Agar’s batting may have stolen the show on his Test debut but he is an immensely talented finger spinner who uses his height and overspin to get steep bounce.
Starc and Pattinson pick themselves in the side. If they can stay fit they have the skill to become one of Australia’s best-ever new ball combinations.
The final bowling spot was the most difficult selection in this team. Australia have a wealth of prolific young pacemen.
Cummins has such ability he could turn out to be a better Test player than anyone else mentioned in this story. But, for now, he needs to stay healthy and then demonstrate he can be a consistently potent first-class bowler.
Behrendorff has done exactly that and deserves his place. Since the start of last summer he has been arguably the most consistently effective quick in the Sheffield Shield, alongside South Australian swing merchant Chadd Sayers.
The fact that none of Cummins, Hazlewood or Sandhu can make this side is an indication of the extraordinary depth in pace Australia possess.
the runt
Guest
Just for a laugh compare the FC averages of Mitch Marsh Faulkner, and Starc all have played about the same amount of games.
Keggas
Guest
A bit harsh on Mitch Marsh he did captain the Australian under 19's at a World Cup
Rellum
Roar Guru
Peter Nevill is 29 so I think he a bit old for a under 25's team ;).
Dylan Richards
Guest
How is behrendorf not willing to learn fast enough?
art pagonis
Guest
Cummins must play for Behrendorff who is not willing to learn quickly enough. Whiteman is having a sad season and Pete Nevil is fitter, quicker and has a very good mentality...and I'm from Perth. Bancroft is a better traditonal and more patient opener than Silk....who could play down the order. Australia's greatest error over the last 5-7 years has been not picking a leg spinner. Adam Zampa is an absolute gun....and he is wins games with his bat in Big Bash, which is a huge tick for his confidence. He'll never forget that moment in Perth.Agar is a better bat, not a wicket taker....and he and Zampa are equal in the field...GO FOR THE WICKET-TAKER. Other than that...fabulous Young Australia squad....well done!
TheCunningLinguistic
Guest
Zigzactly, Nudge!
brian
Guest
The stocks look good except for spin. I expect agar to have a good career just like the last 2 new spinners we had. Cam White and Steve Smith. Lyon can't bat and is young enough to still be in the team in 5 years time.
Paul Giles
Guest
Chris Lynn seems like a quality batsmen, I hope he makes a few hundreds in the second half of the shield to press his claims for the ashes. I want 6 batsmen in the ashes, I don't think 5 bowlers are needed when it is 20 degrees in England. Also Lynn is the equal best fieldsmen in the country with Steve Smith which you could add 5 runs to his average. Silk is a very good batsmen and also a very good fielder, my concern for him is that he gets out to lefties far too many times for it to be a coincidence. I'm not sure Starc is going to make it in tests, for 2 or 3 overs he looks unplayable and for the other 20 he is just average. When it doesn't swing for Starc, he is out of the game, he is a far better white ball bowler.
Baggy_Green
Roar Pro
Did a piece recently about how the batting future looks great and is coming together nicely - http://www.theroar.com.au/2014/12/22/australias-test-batting-future-coming-together/ Exciting times no doubt...we seemed to have found a leader in smith and with all this batting and bowling talent coming through, we look to be on the path of domination again. The missing piece is the performance in the subcontinent and i thought there were encouraging signs amongst the ruins in UAE. Smith, Warner and Mitch Marsh the younger of the top 6 were the ones who performed relatively well. about 10-11 batsmen and 8-10 bowlers will be in a tussle for 6 batting and 4 bowling spots, that competition can only be healthy
Rellum
Roar Guru
Don't worry, I missed Ronan's qualifier that the team would be picked now so some of my comments and selections don't take that into account. We are all blind. Maddison can certainly be a good player. Smith changed the way he bats, he used to go so hard with his hands and play to far away from his body, now he waits for the ball and gets right in behind it. Hopefully Maddison can/has make the adjustments he needs to go to that next level.
Bearfax
Guest
Its my age Rellum. I look at some things and I dont see them when they are staring me in the face. Thanks for noting my dumb comment. But I think Patterson deserves a mention averaging 37.17 at 21 years. And Maddinson seems to do better when placed down the batting order. Has only played one game this Shield season but scored 118 in one of those two innings. He's only 23 and already has a 37.27 first class average with 6 centuries and 11 fifties. Not a bad conversion rate for one so young despite his obvious flaws. He already has better batting figures than Shaun Marsh. Has been through a slow patch but I suspect he's on the rise again.
Tom from Perth
Roar Rookie
Exactly, Nudge.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
If you've got a good solid top 5, and a very good keeper batsman, then you can afford to bat Faulkner at 7 as one of 5 bowlers. But Marsh hasn't shown he's a top quality batsman yet, and it's putting a lot of pressure on Whiteman to bat him at #6. This is putting a lot of pressure on the top 4 batsmen, as well as putting a lot of pressure on the tail to continually deliver and make up for the weakness of the batting above it.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
If it wasn't for his injury, Lynn would have almost certainly been ahead of Burns in the running for the test side. But he's back now, and if he can do well through the second half of the shield season he could definitely be in with a shot for a ticket to England.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Steve Smith, James Faulkner, Pat Cummins, Mitch Marsh, Phil Hughes, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazelwood, James Pattinson, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, ... How many under-25's selected to play test cricket for Australia do you want?
Nudge
Guest
What's to say though Chris that Mitch Marsh isn't going to be a guy to average 45 plus with the bat in 4 or 5 years
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
I'd consider the 5 genuine bowlers as you say, but if doing that you can't carry Mitch Marsh at #5, you need a genuine batsman for that spot. If you have 5 genuine bowlers in the team, then a 6th bowler isn't going to bowl very many overs, it's runs you need from that position. If they can bowl some handy part-time spin or something then that's a bonus for the odd over here or there to try and buy a wicket, but even that's not necessary.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Considering Faulkner to replace Watson is crazy. The idea of selecting a bowling who's never scored a first class hundred, to bat in the top 6 in test cricket beggars belief.
Nudge
Guest
Agar will average a heck of a lot more than that with the bat. Might end up with a few less runs but 5 genuine bowlers make up for that
ajay
Guest
problem is injuries otherwise http://www.theroar.com.au/2011/10/06/lynn-ready-for-test-cricket-says-lehmann/ lynn is the 442 man .