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Australia's Twenty20 mumble a recipe for failure

Steve Smith's side need to up their game in the field. (AAP Image/Paul Miller)
Roar Guru
19th March, 2016
18

Australia’s T20 selectors have left poor old Steve Smith with an absolute mess on his hands. Smudge has been shot in the foot by the very people who are supposed to give him the best chance of winning.

Two spinners were selected for Australia’s opening World Twenty20 clash against New Zealand and were utilised for a total of 12 balls. One of those bowlers conceded three runs, so why didn’t he bowl more? And the other went for 18 in a single over, so why was he in the team?

Ashton Agar’s selection was a particularly strange one given he was often unable to crack the Scorchers’ Big Bash League XI this summer. On what grounds did he demonstrate he should be part of the Australian side then?

Australia showed mixed form coming into this tournament, but a particularly consistent performer, and warm-up match hat-trick taker, was the metronomic Josh Hazlewood. But in what can only be described as a selection table brain fart, he was overlooked for Nathan Coulter-Nile.

Another forehead scratcher was the omission of former captain and current world number one Twenty20 batsman, Aaron Finch. Bizarre indeed.

To compound these strange selections, the batting order, in particular David Warner’s placement at number four, drew a lot of flack from fans and former players alike. I’m not too worried by Warner at four, given his good form there in both IPL and recent Twenty20 cricket.

Australia have a real strength when it comes to top order batsmen and all-rounders. So play to those strengths. Don’t muddle it up and leave us neither strong enough in the batting or bowling. At least stack one department, the batting would be the obvious choice.

For the record, I advocate for an XI consisting of Finch, Usman Khawaja, Shane Watson, Warner, Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Mitch Marsh, James Faulkner, Peter Neville, Hazlewood and Adam Zampa.

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But all of this begs the question, why is Smith being given a side he can’t work with and why is someone other than Smith responsible for selection? He is the one who has to implement tactics and utilise bowlers appropriately.

I would like to see the match day XI selected by the captain during tournament play. That way he doesn’t end up with two spinners when he only needs half of one and his batting is left short by the absence of the best player in the world.

The lack of coherent and logical foresight from selectors here is a blight on the Australian cricket system. A team renowned for dominating everything they come across can’t even put forward a team sheet that looks half right.

A change in selection policy will be a step forward. Time for progress.

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