Six months ago, John Hastings was not in the top dozen 50-over quicks in Australia and his international career looked dead. Now his excellence in the ODI series against India could vault him into Australia’s World T20 squad.
It has been a remarkable turnaround for Hastings.
While he was plugging away in county cricket last winter, he faced a challenge just to get a game for Victoria in 50-over cricket, having averaged almost 50 with the ball for the Bushrangers across the previous two summers.
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But a spate of injuries to Australia’s quicks, coupled with the desire to rest several other pacemen, left Australia searching for an immediate replacement in their series against England in September.
Hastings was the nearest option, geographically, and so he made an unlikely comeback to international cricket, four years after his previous ODI appearance.
It looked like this comeback would be very short lived when in his first match, against England in Leeds, Hastings was hammered, conceding 0-56 from only 6.2 overs.
But the burly seamer displayed admirable resilience to star in the next match, snaring 3-21 from ten overs as Australia wrapped up the five-match series.
Even still, it looked as though that may well be Hastings’ last ODI for Australia. He was well down the pace pecking order, behind the likes of Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Johnson, Josh Hazlewood, James Faulkner, Pat Cummins, Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Pattinson, Kane Richardson and Jason Behrendorff.
Then, as this current series against India approached, Johnson retired, Starc, Cummins and Coulter-Nile were injured, and the selectors were trying to manage the workloads of Hazlewood, Pattinson and Behrendorff.
Suddenly, generous opportunities opened up for limited-overs pacemen. Even still, Hastings wasn’t at the front of the queue, with uncapped quicks Scott Boland and Joel Paris selected ahead of him in the ODI squad for the series against India.
It wasn’t until the selectors decided to give Mitch Marsh a rest that Hastings was called up into the squad. While Boland and Paris had no impact in the series, with combined figures of 2-352, Hastings was the standout paceman from either team.
In a series on the flattest of pitches which was dominated by the bat, his return of ten wickets at 21 was outstanding. Hastings consistently hit a testing line and length and extracted from the dead pitches bounce which others couldn’t find.
He also, quite crucially, has added a yard of pace since his last stint in the national setup in 2011 and 2012. When Hastings debuted in Tests for Australia late in 2012, he was a medium pacer, with an average speed of 129km/h and a top speed of 135km/h in that match.
By comparison, in the ODIs against India he pushed the speed gun above 140km/h in every game (as high as 144km/h) and averaged 134km/h.
He has gone from looking like a handy fourth seamer, whose solid batting rounded out his game, to being a genuine frontline quick worthy of taking the new ball.
Whether he can hold on to his spot once Starc, Hazlewood, Cummins, Coulter-Nile and Behrendorff are all in the mix, who knows?
But he has seized his opportunity and given himself a great chance of making Australia’s World T20 squad. Hastings is in the Australian T20 squad for the three-match series starting in Adelaide tomorrow.
The other frontline pacemen in that squad are tearaway Shaun Tait, short form specialist Andrew Tye, the highly skilled Kane Richardson, and Boland, whose stocks have nosedived following a very poor debut ODI series.
The key advantage Hastings has over all of those quicks is his powerful striking with the blade.
So impressive was Hastings with the ball in the ODI series that he probably just needs to be solid in these T20s to book his World T20 berth. He has one foot on the plane to India.
OJP
Guest
totally agree mate; was a fantastic experience on many levels
Don Freo
Guest
Do you reckon "penned" sounds better than "wrote"?
VivGilchrist
Guest
Watson has a ton of experience in India, has a great T20 record, and is in pretty reasonable form with bat and ball.
VivGilchrist
Guest
Paul D, Mark Twain once penned, "Never argue with a fool as onlookers may not be able to tell the difference"
Justin from Canberra
Guest
OJP, The guys I was referring to having English experience improving their bowling were similar to you in that they were expected to bat and bowl well, virtually shouldering the team in both aspects. With the extra responsibility and effort they returned fitter, stronger and better. I'm just wondering if this applied to Hastings notwithstanding your own experience? Like you I spent time playing in England and came back a better bat than bowler, but still improved at both. I'm not sure how many Australians spend the off season in England anymore but I'm sure it can only benefit them.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Yeah Brett that extra 5kmh he has added has made him look a much better bowler. Combined with his height he's now capable of producing quite intimidating deliveries when he really bends his back.
Don Freo
Guest
His bowling has been the greatest contribution Wade has made to Oz cricket.
Brett McKay
Expert
Fair enough. But this now means Matthew Wade "mainly" played for Australia as a bowler..
Paul Potter
Roar Guru
I remember once writing an article on this website where I was glad that one of the ODIs in England gave Hastings the moments that makes a bowler smile. I'm glad that's he's been able to keep up the good form.
OJP
Guest
Interesting question Justin; I had a stint in England as a 21 year old 'bowling all rounder' and my batting improved enormously (played alot more games so more time in the middle, also expected by the club to make lots of runs and bat at the top of the order). My bowling didnt particularly improve because I was bowling on helpful pitches all the time so I could shorten the run up and bowl at about 80% of top whack and be just as effective and bowl longer spells (also expected by the club). So, the conditions (I faced) didnt encourage you to charge in; it wasnt necessary..... unlike bowling on the rock hard pitches I was used to in WA; where you couldnt hope to send them down on a good length in the mid 120's and let the pitch do the rest.... Granted, 'the Duke' would have been playing on better grounds / pitches than I encountered. Looks to me like he is running in harder... anyway, good on him as you say.. good attitude and sweet nickname.
Craig Swanson
Guest
So he is quicker and hitting the pitch harder. That may be ok for a Brett Lee, Pattinson or Cummins who are built for speed. Hastings on the other hand, remains one of our best limited overs bowlers because he brings so much to the table with his clever changes of pace and pin point yorker. With his height he can also surprise with a good, accurate bouncer. He is also possibly our best death bowler. These are assets far more crucial in T20 than pace alone.
Craig Swanson
Guest
Did I not read mid week that Marsh considered Finch's place on very shaky ground. So why was he picked.? Watson gets his final Aussie gig on sentimental grounds rather than result based ones. CA could rue picking Incumbents, Maxwell, Finch and Watson without giving a thought for the playing conditions. All three are less than proficient against ordinary spin let alone the quality spin they are likely to encounter from clever subcontinental tweakers on familar decks. George Bailey is a far better player of spin and is in form. How the hell was Usman Khyawaja not picked. An astonishing omission!
Craig Swanson
Guest
They brought one bloke in from the cold why not Clint McKay as well. How did Scott Boland make the squad? Was ok in BBL and dreadful in the ODIs. One solitary wicket in four games at 255 run expense tells its own story. If he is one of our best death bowlers I am yet to be convinced. All in all a good mixture of clever medium pacers and spin bowlers. Though I would prefer another leggie to Lyon on Indian pitches.
Don Freo
Guest
He was picked to open the batting...and he did. He did it for Qld too. He wasn't an opener...but that's why he was picked.
Paul D
Roar Guru
"Exactly. What I said", which was: "Hopes played, he was played mainly as an opening batsman" Hopes played 84 games, for 61 innings. 6 as opener 1 at number 3 40 at number 7 14 at number 8 Baffled how you can claim your assertion is still correct?
Don Freo
Guest
Exactly. What I said.
Brett McKay
Expert
I don't mind admitting how pleasantly surprised I've been by Hastings' returns, Ronan. The extra pace is certainly noticeable, too, consistently hitting the wicket hard and getting though..
Brett McKay
Expert
Don, Hopes opened six times in ODIs. He was very much a no.7 or 8 bat...
Kris
Guest
I like Hastings. Hits the bat hard and bowls reasonably tight lines. I think he would offer the same control as someone like Siddle in the same situation, with the added benefits of his additional pace and bounce and the fact that he's a more than useful lower order batsman. When the frontline bowlers are fit though, I'd expect him to compete with Faulkner for the third seamer/bowling allrounder spot and Faulkner has him covered.
Don Freo
Guest
Although, when Hopes played, he was played mainly as an opening batsman.