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Australian still has a great Test cricket team, don’t get me wrong. But have the Australians finally got a team where the fans aren’t full of confidence going into the summer?
The Test team has obviously fallen away a little bit in recent times. The losses of skipper Michael Clarke, Chris Rogers and wicketkeeper Brad Haddin have made this team look quite different.
They obviously still have David Warner, Steve Smith, Mitchell Johnson and Nathan Lyon but will this inexperienced team be enough to get them past New Zealand and the West Indies?
Smith is Australia’s best batsman and arguably the world’s right now. Last summer, he couldn’t even have dreamed of anything better. It was like a perfect summer as Smith made hundreds after hundreds.
If Smith can bring those types of performances, then Australia will be a lot more confident about how the series will end.
During the latest Ashes series, Smith failed on a number of occasions. When the team crumbled, Smith had perfect opportunities to show why he should be captain, but he couldn’t do it. Inconsistency is something that let Smith down but now as captain he will be back to his best.
Australia’s bowling attack hasn’t changed much. They did lose Ryan Harris to retirement before the Ashes, but Josh Hazlewood replaced him and did a good job. The team still has Mitchell Starc, Johnson, Lyon and possibly Peter Siddle, who are very good bowlers at their best.
The middle order for Australia has really never been a problem, until now.
So many batsmen looking to fill that middle order are coming in and out. Joe Burns did a pretty good job during the summer last year and he will get a decent go. Adam Voges played a beautiful innings on debut scoring a century against the West Indies.
Usman Khawaja, however, has had too many chances. He had his chance a couple of years ago and started off alright. But he failed to build on that and couldn’t perform in subsequent chances. His time is done and Australia should let other batsmen have a go.
New Zealand showed strong signs in the World Cup as they made the grand final but lost to Australia. This looked like a changed side and a bit of a scary one for other teams. I don’t think their Test team is as strong as their one day team but the Australians will still have to bring their A-game if they want to win.
The West Indies are obviously in a bit of a rough patch. They have young players who just haven’t showcased their talent yet. In saying that, why won’t they do that this summer? The Aussies can’t underestimate the Windies because every once in a while they pull a surprise win out of their bag of tricks.
What do you think, Roarers? How will Australia go over summer?
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