While Australia’s Test team floundered in Sri Lanka, several emerging players pushed their cases for selection as Australia A comfortably beat South Africa A 2-0 in their red-ball series.
All-rounder Marcus Stoinis, batsmen Kurtis Patterson, Peter Handscomb, Matt Renshaw and Cameron Bancroft, and bowlers Joe Mennie and Mitchell Swepson all shone against a South African team stacked with Test players.
It was not a proper A side for South Africa, boasting nine cricketers who have played Tests, including seven players South Africa used in their most recent Test series – batsmen Dean Elgar, Stephen Cook, Temba Bavuma and Stiaan van Zyl, plus seamers Vernon Philander and Hardus Viljoen, and spinner Dane Piedt.
For Australia to have won so easily against a side with this much talent and Test experience is a good sign of the depth building in its first-class ranks.
The success of their batsmen will have been particularly pleasing for Australia, who for years suffered from a dearth of young, long-form batting talent.
Renshaw (20 years old), Patterson (23), Bancroft (23), Handscomb (25) and Stoinis (26) each finished in the top-nine runscorers in last year’s Sheffield Shield competition.
Queenslander Renshaw is known for his patience and circumspection, yet he unfurled some belligerent, Matthew Hayden-esque strokes amid a knock of 94 in the first match at Allan Border Field in Brisbane.
A similarly level-headed opener, Bancroft made 165 runs at 55 against South Africa A. The West Australian also had a fine A series in Chennai last year, with 224 runs at 75 on dusty, turning pitches against former Indian Test spinners Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha.
Bancroft was set to make his Test debut as a replacement for the injured David Warner in Bangladesh last year, before the series was cancelled.
Patterson has not been spoken of widely as a Test candidate, although that may change after his fine A series. The New South Welshman was the leading runscorer, with 222 runs at 74, including three half centuries from four knocks.
A versatile player, Patterson batted three in the first game, opened in the second match, and has played in the middle order before for the Blues. With just under 2000 runs at 42, he has made a great start to his first-class career.
While Renshaw, Bancroft and Patterson are all likely to compete for top-order Test berths in the coming years, Handscomb shapes as perhaps Australia’s best middle-order option.
He has cracked almost 1700 runs at 48 in first-class cricket the past two years, including seven centuries. The timing of his latest hundred, 137 in the second A fixture, could scarcely have been any better given the goings on in Sri Lanka.
Handscomb is a quality player of spin, with his former coach Greg Shipperd rating him second only to Michael Clarke in this regard among recent Australian batsmen.
Australia’s Test top five was set in stone leading into the series in Sri Lanka, but following their calamitous batting in the first two Tests, media reports suggest it could be shaken up. All-rounder Mitch Marsh’s place must also be in doubt, as his long run-drought continues.
There is significant pressure being applied to Australia’s batsmen by the aforementioned youngsters, as well as by South Australian strokemaker Travis Head, who this week was rushed to Sri Lanka ahead of the third Test, which starts in Colombo on Saturday.
However, Darren Lehmann told the media Head was not going to play.
“We see him as a really exciting young player for the future,” the Australian coach said. “Give him as much experience around, one, our Test group and, two, our one-day group as we possibly can.”
It seems Head is on the fast track to Test selection, although if one of Australia’s top five was dropped now it likely would be reserve batsman Shaun Marsh who would take their place.
Media reports have suggested the elder Marsh could replace either opener Joe Burns or first drop Usman Khawaja, but the younger, Mitch, deserves to be under greater scrutiny than any other member of Australia’s top six.
Stoinis’ stirling efforts for Australia A will only generate further uncertainty about Marsh’s position as the incumbent Test all-rounder.
Stoinis has made 252 runs at 50 and taken seven wickets at 26 in his four matches the A side – two against South Africa A, and two in Chennai last year. He shapes as a better option at six than Moises Henriques, who is the backup all-rounder in Sri Lanka.
Over the past two years, Stoinis has blossomed as a batsman, making 1700 runs at 45 in first-class cricket. What makes that haul even more impressive is that it has not been amassed in the middle order – Stoinis has batted in the top three for Victoria for most of the past two Shield seasons.
Meanwhile, arguably the best player for Australia A against the Proteas was South Australian seamer Joe Mennie.
Despite having long been a reliable performer for the Redbacks, Mennie rarely has been mentioned as a Test prospect. He managed to force his way into this national team by dominating the Shield last summer, with 51 wickets at 21.
Mennie was both frugal and penetrative against the Proteas, grabbing 12 wickets at 12 and sending a loud message to the national selectors. With Australia’s pace ranks beset by injuries, there may well be generous opportunities for emerging quicks during the six home Tests this summer.
Mennie deserves to be strongly considered.
Andy Hill
Roar Pro
He had a bad start to his FC career. Has made loads of runs at well over 40 in the past 2 to 3 seasons. He is in good form.
CCG
Guest
Handscomb averages 38 in first class. Hardly stellar.
Broken-hearted Toy
Guest
Mitch Marsh got into the test team on the back of scoring a 200 against the Indian bowlers in an A series in Aus a few years back. He was facing spin bowlers that had played for India. Home conditions mean that you can't assume any of these players can do much in the sub-continent. I notice that Peter Handscomb is already a star in some people's heads on the back of not much. Players gain so much by not being in the Aus team. :)
bearfax
Guest
No unfortunately didnt have access. But then I'm a numbers man. I dont allow appearance to dictate my impressions. Stats give the best sense of a players worth. Consistency, strike rate, performance at different positions in the team. Stats arent everything but they give a good sense of where the player is at. That's why well before they reached test level I always knew Warner, Smith, Khawaja and Hughes would reach the top well before they did. It was in their stats. Hughes would have been a giant comparable to Hayden if we had not lost him. Patterson is of the same ilk. You can see from his figures that he is destined for test cricket and to succeed.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Yeah, not sure about how much pressure. They are playing in conditions where the current test squad will come back and dominate. If they were over in India dominating India in the same way on rank turners that would definitely put the pressure on, but I don't know that them doing well in Australian conditions where the current Aussie players have been awesome means that much.
craig swanson
Guest
You left out the giant Dubbo-born Bushranger Chris Tremain. I believe his five for in the first innings of the first test plus the brilliant Patterson/Stoinis' partnership got the Aussies off to a series flyer and they never reliquished the ascendancy. The deck was a touch on the slow side but some variable bounce kept the quicks interested. Tremain and Joe Mennie were good enough to capitalise.
craig swanson
Guest
Did you watch the games Bear? In my humble opinion Patterson was the player of the series with the way he anchored both first innings. There is nothing flashy about the tall Blues leftie but he sure has a cool head. Showed great maturity also when thrust into the unfamiliar opening role.Terribly unlucky not to score a well deserved ton. A test batsmen in waiting for mine.
craig swanson
Guest
Stoinis is ready for ODI not test cricket in my humble opinion. I like what I saw of him on the last day of the second A test. But in all honesty he is nothing more than a handy change bowler. You talk of dropping a specialist keeper in Nevill for a part timer in Handscomb.. Let him Keep in the ODI s hardly the standard for tests. Sam Whiteman did nothing wrong with the bat in the A tests.. and we all know he is among the best keepers in the country. I believe Nevill deserves more chances. I am all for Marsh dropping to #7 for Nevill.
craig swanson
Guest
I would be grooming Peter Handscomb now for the Indian tour. Wake up CA we have a ready made player of spin right under your nose. He still has a technical problem against pace in that he does not fully cover his off stump. I did, however, see signs of improvement from him in the two unofficial A tests. CA now has to find other good players of spin and ready them for India. How about a recall for George Bailey.. always comfortable against spin and he is going gangbusters in all conditions in England.
craig swanson
Guest
If CA had any guts and admitted they boo booed with their original spin selections we may get somewhere. A wrist spinner would have been far more potent on these decks than the garden variety finger spinner. All three of our spinners have been underwhelming to say the least. Fawad should have been picked.. stands to reason.. knows the conditions first hand, spins the ball both ways, is accurate and would get far greater turn that the finger spinner. Mitchell Swepson has also put himself in the frame with some excellent form in the A series.
Andy Hill
Roar Pro
Fawad's form dipped a lot in the second half of the last Shield season- he took most of his wickets in the first half of the season before the big bash break. I would even say he may struggle to retain his place in the Vics shield team this year with Holland performing well.
Simon
Guest
Can someone tell me what the deal with Fawad Ahmed is? He's been a stand out in the Sheffield Shield in the last couple of seasons and every time I've watched him he's looked a class above our other spinners. Why doesn't he get picked?
Broken-hearted Toy
Guest
Khawaja didn't score any runs of worth in the test series. That was Bancroft. It's why Bancroft was chosen for the Bangladesh series. But Burns jumped him for the home series when Bancroft had a poor start to the Shield summer.
Broken-hearted Toy
Guest
it really does show the home ground advantage. Good luck to Stoinis, I hope he has another good Shield season as he really would be pushing for the test team if he can take some shield wickets.
Angus Nunn
Guest
Hey Ronanhad good article, especialy the bit about Stoinus! Quick insgiht about Mennie, I thought he was not qucik enough for the slectors, who famously favour super quick lads! Seeing as he is not as quick as bird and bird does not get much of a look in unless the pitch is a seamer's paradise, how will he be quick enough to warrant selection in home tests?
bearfax
Guest
I say watch out for Patterson. For some reason he doesnt get the press yet he has the best average of all of these young batsmen, plays at No 3 and seems to have a good consistency with his run making. He is three years younger than Stoinis and yet has a better average already. In the Shield he had only one bad season when he was pushed into assuming the No 3 position two years ago. He learned quick and turned it all around last year. I think he will make a very solid No 3 batsman for Australia in a year or two
jameswm
Roar Guru
Yes it does sound right. Imagine if we were 5 for 350 on a hard track in Australia and you look up and Marsh walks in. Imagine what it used to be like for teams facing Gilly - they'd be excited having us 5 for 200 and a session later we're 6 for 360.
matth
Guest
But if First Class and A side performances mean nothing, then how do you pick the test side? They have to be our best measure surely, otherwise we should just have a national lottery.
Craig Swanson
Guest
Watched most of these unofficial tests online and was pleasantly surprised by the quality on display. Kurtis Patterson certainly put his name before the selectors with two polished scores in both first innings to anchor the A boys to a two test victory.. The bowler of the series and last season's top wicket taker Joe mennie is another who will have CA very interested as will the giant New South born Bushranger quick Chris Tremain. With James Pattison's career a bit of a mystery Tremain could slot into our pace attack seamlessly. Peter Handscomb's captaincy could come under fire for being too conservative and dare I say playing favorites but his batting is on the improve, Scored a fine ton in second game. I see both he and Marcus Stoinis as being a part of our ODI squad very shortly. Handscomb could also figure in the Indian tour due to his prowess against spin.
Lancey5times
Guest
Doesn't Marsh at 7 just sound right? A few things need to happen for this to eventuate but wouldn't it be great