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When Steve Smith reached 88 yesterday at the MCG, he passed 1000 Test runs for a third successive calendar year.
No current international batsman has achieved such a feat.
In 2014 Smith scored 1146 at 81.85 with five tons, and four half-centuries.
Last year the Australian captain topped the world’s run-getters with 1474 at 73.70 with six tons, and five half-centuries.
And yesterday his unbeaten century gave him 1014 runs for the year at 67.60 with four centuries, and five half-centuries.
That took Smith to 17 career Test tons in his 49th Test to join his vice-captain David Warner who has played ten more Tests.
But Warner hasn’t been lying idle either.
In 2014 he cracked 1136 at 63.11 with six centuries, and three half-centuries.
He passed the 1000-run mark again last year with 1317 at 54.87 with four tons, and seven half-centuries.
And while this year has been his quietest, starting with a Test ton at the SCG and ending with 144 at the MCG, he still scored 748 runs at 41.55 with two half-centuries, one of them a 97 against South Africa at the WACA.
Usman Khawaja scored two 97s this calendar year – the first against South Africa at the WACA, the second yesterday at the MCG to finish among the world’s top ten run-getters for the first time.
His 753 at 47.06 with two centuries and four half-centuries, proved Australia is blessed to have this talented trio.
The second Test at the MCG against Pakistan will end in a draw today thanks to persistent rain, which makes selection for the third and final Test at the SCG on January 3 so very interesting.
Matt Renshaw, Warner, Khawaja, Smith, Peter Handscomb, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Jackson Bird pick themselves. There are question marks over left-handed batsman Nic Maddinson, keeper-batsman Matthew Wade, and offie Nathan Lyon.
Maddinson had a golden opportunity yesterday when he joined his skipper with plenty of team runs and time on his side.
He looked far more relaxed than his zero, one, and four so far in his Test career, but he jumped down the track to Pakistani leggie Yasir Shah and was comprehensively bowled. The golden opportunity went begging.
Whether the selectors give Maddinson another chance on his home ground at the SCG is a mute point.
Keeper Wade has been a bitter disappointment. He was chosen over Peter Nevill because he’s a better niggler towards opposition batsmen.
But a constant “niiiiiccccceeee Gary” is hardly riveting, and with Nevill a far better gloveman, and Wade not scoring any runs, Nevill should be reinstated.
There’s been an interesting development with Australian bowling coach David Saker making a passionate plea for an all-rounder to ease the work load of his four-man attack of Starc, Hazlewood, Bird, and Lyon who have bowled 318 overs between them in successive Tests.
A fair call.
If Maddinson is to go the replacement will be an all-rounder between a batting bowler Hilton Cartwright, Mitchell Marsh, or left-handed batting, right-handed offie Travis Head.
We know the selectors have a high regard for Cartwright, having added him to the ODI then Test squads before sending him home empty-handed.
But the SCG takes turn, so Head would be the better horses for courses selection, while Nathan Lyon has to go.
He had a wicket to suit him at the MCG which turned in the very first session and he took the first wicket. But from that point on Lyon was all over the shop with far too many deliveries drifting down leg-side – a gift for the Pakistani batsmen.
If Cartwright or Head are selected for Maddinson, Adam Zampa would be the ideal replacement for Lyon.
The 24-year-old leggie is a genuine talent with 19 ODIs under his belt claiming 30 wickets at 27.80 – very tidy.
I recall the good days of Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill working in tandem at the SCG, it would be nice to see a leggie operating again.
But 32-year-old slow left-armer Steve O’Keefe looms as the likely replacement or Lyon, and he knows the SCG inside out.
And his batting would be an asset as well, more so than Zampa.
What’s worth a thought – taking on a 24-year-old compared to a 32-year-old when the selectors new policy is youth?