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Since their golden era ended in 2008, Australia have given Test debuts to 14 batsmen.
Incredibly, only five of them were younger than 28 years old.
It was hard to be too upset at the selection of 32-year-old Callum Ferguson for his Test debut against South Africa this week.
There have been plenty of occasions in recent years where I have strongly disagreed with the Australian selectors. But Ferguson has made almost 2000 runs at 54 in the Sheffield Shield since the start of the 2013-14 summer, averaging more than 50 for three consecutive seasons.
There was a similar weight of runs behind the Test selections of old stagers Adam Voges and Chris Rogers. In the two Shield seasons before he made his Test debut at 35 years of age, Voges piled up 2167 runs at 80.
Rogers, meanwhile, had more than 20,000 runs and 60 centuries to his name in first-class cricket when he was belatedly recalled to the Test team also aged 35.
Part of the reason that pair were given those opportunities was because of the dearth of young batting talent in the Shield at those times. But that is no longer the case.
In the four Shield seasons from 2011-12 to 2014-15 Shield seasons, run-scoring in the Shield was controlled by batsmen in their late 20s and 30s. In that period, only two of the top ten Shield runscorers each season were younger than 25, on average.
Last summer, the Shield was dominated by young batsmen. Nine of the top 12 runscorers were aged 24 or less – Kurtis Patterson (22 years old), Cameron Bancroft (23), Peter Handscomb (24), Jake Lehmann (23), Travis Head (22), Matt Renshaw (19), Travis Dean (23), Alex Ross (23) and Sam Heazlett (20).
Of those nine blossoming batsmen, Kurtis Patterson, Cameron Bancroft, Peter Handscomb and Matt Renshaw went on to have fine performances for Australia A in the winter. Meanwhile, Jake Lehmann ventured over to England and adapted swiftly to the foreign conditions, making an impressive 116 for county heavyweights Yorkshire out of a total of 286.
Lehmann has started this summer in wonderful touch, making 129 not out in his second Shield innings to give him a first-class record of 1322 runs at 49, with five tons from 18 matches.
Patterson, too, has been in great nick with 222 runs from the first two Shield games. He has amassed nearly 1200 first-class runs at an average of 60 in the past year.
Handscomb has scores of 78 and 60 among his first three Shield knocks. Appointed the captain of Australia A in the winter, Handscomb has made seven first-class tons in the past two years amid 1936 runs at 47.
Bancroft has had a slow start to this Shield season but has similarly impressive numbers behind him, with nearly 2000 runs at 46 the past two years.
Some cricket fans focus on career batting averages. But I would argue that for young batsmen it is form over the past 18 to 24 months which is far more relevant. It is pointless to hold against players their struggling efforts at 19, 20 or 21 years old, which drag down their career numbers.
All of Patterson, Handscomb, Bancroft and Lehmann have shown enough to be Test candidates, although Lehmann is much greener than the other three. Just a week ago it seemed likely one of these youngsters would be given the next shot at a middle order position in the Australian cricket team.
Instead it was 32-year-old Ferguson who got the nod. This continues the trend of selecting older batsmen, which started after Australia’s 15-year golden era ended in 2008. Since then, Australia have given Test opportunities to 14 batsmen – Chris Rogers, Phil Hughes, Marcus North, Steve Smith, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, David Warner, Ed Cowan, Rob Quiney, George Bailey, Alex Doolan, Joe Burns, Adam Voges and Callum Ferguson.
Remarkably, only five of those 14 batsmen were aged younger than 28 – Hughes, Smith, Warner, Burns and Khawaja. Australia clearly lack trust in their younger batsmen. But it is hard to see how they can successfully rebuild their side, after losing six veterans a year ago, if they don’t start to give opportunities to up-and-coming batsmen.