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Most cricket fans would have never seen Bangladesh-bound bolter Andrew Fekete bowl.
Australian captain Steve Smith hasn’t seen him bowl for eight years, when Fekete sent him packing in an open age game between NSW and the Vics.
Such are the demands on Australia’s elite cricketers with Tests, ODIs, and Twenty/20, they rarely play first class cricket for their State, and never play club cricket.
More’s the pity.
So Smith will press the flesh again with Fekete when the new-look Australian squad marshall for the two-Test series against Bangladesh in a week.
This will be the least experienced Australian Test squad since 1977 when Kerry Packer wiped out the best with World Series Cricket.
The current 15-man squad boasts just 208 caps between them, at an average of 13.87 per man.
Take out Smith’s 33 caps, Nathan Lyon’s 46, and Peter Siddle’s 57, and the squad average is cut to less than half at six.
Fast bowler Fekete and top order batsman Cameron Bancroft are the only two uncapped. But they deserve their chance in top company.
Fekete has only played 18 Sheffield Shield games since he debuted at 28 years of age, claiming 62 wickets at 26.66.
Last season Fekete was the Sheffield Shield’s most successful fast bowler with 37 wickets at 24.19 to win the Ricky Ponting Award as the best-performed Tasmanian.
On the recent Australia A tour of India, Fekete took five wickets in the two “unofficial Tests” at a cost of 23.40 on unforgiving Indian tracks, much like those Fekete will face in Bangladesh.
Bancroft topped the Indian A tour batting averages with 224 runs at 74.66, with a top score of 150.
But the most interesting stat out of that tour belonged to left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe, who also made the Bangladesh touring party.
In the two games, O’Keefe captured 14 wickets at 20.07 with an economy rate of 2.61 and in tandem with paceman Gurinder Sandhu were outstanding, taking 24 of the 37 Indian wickets between them.
Sandhu’s contribution was 10 wickets at 18.4, and at 22 years of age, why wasn’t he chosen for Bangladesh instead of the soon-to-be 31-year-old Siddle, who has been a very honest player for the baggy greens.
But there’s a major changing of the guard.
Michael Clarke has gone, and an exciting new era with Steve Smith at the helm will reap rich rewards.
Chris Rogers and Brad Haddin have retired from all cricket, Shane Watson has retired from Test cricket, David Warner is injured and will miss Bangladesh, with pacemen Mitchell Johnson, Josh Hazlewood, and James Pattinson either “dropped”, “injured” or “rested” depending on how the national selectors view their individual cases.
But the key to Australia’s cricket future rests with 26-year-old Steve Smith.
He is a breath of fresh air and will lead from the front.
There’s talk of Usman Khawaja batting three in Bangladesh, pushing Smith to four.
No way. That must not ever happen.
Smith is by far the best Australian at first drop, leaving Khawaja to either open, or bat four.
Khawaja’s the swinger, certainly not Smith.
One thing for sure, this Bangladesh series will answer at lot of questions as to the make-up of the Australian side for the coming summer.
Australian Test squad to tour Bangladesh
Steve Smith (capt – 33 Tests)
Adam Voges (vc – 7)
Cameron Bancroft (uncapped)
Joe Burns (2)
Pat Cummins (1)
Andrew Fekete (uncapped)
Usman Khawaja (9)
Nathan Lyon (46)
Mitchell Marsh (7)
Shaun Marsh (16)
Glenn Maxwell (3)
Peter Nevill (4)
Steve O’Keefe (1)
Peter Siddle (57)
Mitchell Starc (22)