Mitchell Starc took eight wickets and Matthew Wade failed again as Tasmania were reduced to just 63 in a day of carnage to finish the first round of the Sheffield Shield.
It was Trent Copeland, who is an outside chance if injuries strike the Australians during the summer who did the damage on Day 1 of New South Wales’ fixture at the Adelaide Oval against South Australia, but Starc announced he was well and truly back yesterday.
He ended with figures of 8 for 73 as the Redbacks were knocked over for 206, the Australian quick well and truly announcing his return from injury.
Despite the fact Copeland took six wickets in the first innings, it’s likely he will make way for a returning Josh Hazlewood in Round 2, as the Australian pace attack of Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood attempt to return to full fitness before the first ball of the Ashes on November 23.
Speaking of bolters for the Test team, Nathan Coulter-Nile continues to throw his name in lights, taking three for 18 as the Warriors crashed through the Tigers batting order.
At this stage, it appears he is in a three-way battle with Peter Siddle and Jackson Bird for the gig as twelth man heading into the first Test.
While there are no questions about the make-up of Australia’s pace arsenal for the first Test, there are more than a few questions surrounding the No.6 and wicket-keeper positions.
After the first round, we are no closer to figuring out who is going to slot in either.
Incumbent keeper Matthew Wade is under all sorts of pressure over these three rounds to be played before the Ashes, but he won’t have earnt any brownie points with the selectors after a twin failure in Tasmania’s capitulation at the W.A.C.A.
There are almost no excuses for Wade to be failing with the bat after he was picked ahead of former Tasmanian captain Tim Paine.
Batting at No.5, he returned scores of just one and six, which out of 63 games him the equal second-highest score but is anything but good enough.
His second innings was incredibly concerning. With his six coming from just 18 balls, he flashed at a wide one from Simon Mackin, edging through Josh Inglis behind the stumps. With his team realing, Wade needed to buck in and do the hard yards, even if runs were hard to come by.
Instead, he showed his intent and got out cheaply. It’s something the selectors need to take into consideration ahead of the first Test, even though his main rival for the job, New South Wales’ Peter Nevill made an uninspiring 20 in the first innings and didn’t get a chance to bat in the second before the Blues beat the Redbacks convincingly.
The name thrown up as a bolter for the keeping job, Alex Carey also had his second failure of the match adding just four as the South Australian middle and lower order collapsed at the hands of Starc.
Realistically, the selectors won’t be feeling confident in any of the keepers. Matthew Wade’s ability behind the stumps leaves a lot to be desired, and if he is out of form with the bat, it creates a huge concern over his position in the team. Yet, if neither Nevill or Carey push their point to the selectors, they may still go with Wade.
The question probably stands though as to whether Wade is the right man for the job during the highly-pressured Ashes series. Shots like the one he played in the second innings are nowhere near good enough for a man under pressure, especially when you consider he has gone past 50 just twice in his last 20 Test innings.
(AP Photo/Tsering Topgyal)
Questions continue to rear their head for the selectors when it comes to the No.6 position. As we talked about yesterday, Glenn Maxwell did nothing to help his chances of selection, while Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh and Hilton Cartwright all had at least one half pleasing result next to their name.
Moises Henriques also struggled against the Redbacks, meaning the Western Australian trio, with teammate Marcus Stoinis shaping as a bolter are in the drivers seat.
After one round though, and considering the tough conditions faced by Queensland and Victoria at the Gabba, it’s hard to come to any definitive judgement on the No.6 spot.
None of the conditions were easy in day-night fixtures played on green decks around the country with rain interruptions, so we will probably get a much clearer picture when the second round gets underway.
There is no question there that Glenn Maxwell will need to score big in at least one of his innings. No matter his record, Cartwright has an edge over him being able to bowl some medium pace, and with a half-century already to his name, he may be a step ahead.
Still, questions need to be answered and at this stage, with a very limited sample space there are more questions than answers for the Ashes team.
Elsewhere, David Warner backed up his first innings 85 with 32, Steve Smith fell cheaply for the second time in a row and Nathan Lyon was again econcomical, picking up 2 for 26 from 14 overs.
The next round of the Sheffield Shield starts on Saturday, November 4 with Victoria to host South Australia at the MCG, New South Wales to play Western Australia at Hurstville and Tasmania taking on Queensland at Blundstone Arena.
AREH
Roar Guru
I could genuinely see Aus losing the pink ball test because Anderson could become seriously dangerous; but probably no more so than the Aus bowlers with the pink ball. Also I get that you're understandably scarred from selectors' history of shoddy management of Khawaja, but he will be picked 100% for Brisbane; especially after Shield round 1. Cummins is understandably an auto-pick after his performances this year; but I still agree on Sayers - I would absolutely love to see Sayers play the Adelaide test, and the damage he could do.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
Renshaw is a good young player and is a sure starter for the first test at least. It will be good for him to spend some time in the middle and score some runs. Shaun Marsh I guess will be competing for the middle order spot which is currently held by Maxwell. The number 3 and 4 is set with Khawaja and Smith and Handscomb will play number 5. If Shaun Marsh gets picked, he will probably bat at 5 dropping Handscomb to 6 in the order.
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
Fair call, but Renshaw still batted time even though he didn't make many runs. That ticks two of the boxes for openers - Seeing off the new ball bowlers and protecting the middle order from the shiny new pill. You are correct about Shaun Marsh though, More runs from him and little from Renshaw and selectors may back the more experienced left hand opening batsman.
Don Freo
Guest
Nah...it's just cheap and nasty to do the cliched put down. I'm surprised it came from you. I like your cricket comments.
Don Freo
Guest
That doesn't make a lot of sense. Why try the second tier when we know that Hazlewood, Starc and Cummins will exploit those conditions even faster and with greater devastation. Try Sayers and Bird when they are better than the other 3.
AREH
Roar Guru
This is a great point. By that reasoning, I'd have Carey in front
George
Guest
Perhaps. But Australia struggles on anything other than hard, flat pitches and in favourable overhead conditions. Sayers (or Bird) should be tried in those situations I believe, to counter opposition bowlers who regularly scythe through wickets two to eight like no tomorrow when it's moving about.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
Well still positives surely the bowling of Mitchell Starc and batting of Warner. Usman Khawaja also showed that he is a force in home conditions. The disappointments obviously are Maxwell, Renshaw and Handscomb. Even though there is no threat to Handscomb's position, Maxwell is running out of time I feel. Shaun Marsh hasn't done anything to harm his chances of getting selected in the X1. I would not read too much into the failure of Smith, the guy has been scoring runs everywhere for a long time, I am not worried about him. Cartwright also has a shoe in but again he did not set the world alight in the first game. All this is still interesting. The round two games probably will be more interesting as Marsh will be hoping to keep his form up and Maxwell will be hoping to score some runs.
qwetzen
Guest
What I think is that you're taking things far too seriously.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
I suspect England will have to play the extra bowler not the extra batsman. Effectively they'll got to 4 bowlers and one allrounder instead of 3 bowlers and 2 allrounders that they have been playing.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
It's a rare thing to get through a 5-test series without changes (though it happened last time in Australia with the 5-0 whitewash), and a number of the WA guys are definitely firming up as possibilities to fill those spots if they come up, but at the moment, unless Cartwright gets the #6 spot, there will likely be no WA players in the team. Having a team with so many players who could play test cricket if an opportunity came up, but currently aren't, definitely makes WA look like a team that could be pretty dominant in the Shield this year. NSW are strong with all the test players back, but take out Warner, Smith, Lyon, Starc, Cummins, Hazlewood and possibly Nevill, and they are significantly weakened.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
I definitely agree. After such a horrible return in first class cricket last season, he definitely needs to turn that around and start scoring some serious runs if he's going to be in the conversation for a test berth.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
I suspect that they would give the existing batsmen a second chance after playing just one match in difficult batting conditions. Maddinson does need to work out where his off stump is though. It's not the first time I've seen him get bowled leaving the ball.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Contrary to popular belief, I'm pretty sure the pink ball hasn't been shown to swing more than the red ball, actually it seems to swing less. However, the grassier pitches they've been rolling out thinking they need to "protect the ball" more have lead to more seam movement. Cummins first wicket in the shield match was a beauty that nipped back in off the seam. I note that there was talk about Starc's spell that it was probably the first time they've actually observed the pink ball reverse swinging since they've started using it. Prior to that it's never reversed. But that could also partly be put down to creating grassy pitches designed to look after the ball. The ball actually needs to degrade a bit to reverse, and apparently the curator took the grass level down another mm or two on this pitch compared to last year, so possibly a bit more abrasive and therefore lead to them being able to get it to reverse.
Don Freo
Guest
Out of that lot, in Australia, only Broad has the ability to keep the pressure on. It's quite likely that whichever batsmen start the series will finish the series with healthy boosts to their stats. I can't imagine there will be many changes to the Aussie side.
Don Freo
Guest
NCN and Behrendorff probably have the strongest claims...but there are no spaces available.
Don Freo
Guest
If the other 2 keep defaulting, they'll go for Carey. I would think, right now, they would be going for Nevill. The vocal fool stuff that Wade offers has been exposed. A mouth without the substance of ability is not worthy of a baggy green.
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
That would make Cartwright the unlucky one. He probably has the strongest claim of all your West Aussies, having played in the last test team and making runs in this shield game, although he was most likely going to be dropped to allow Khawaja to fit back into the side for the home test series.
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
Agreed. Just ask Head... Or Lehmann... Or Cary
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
Hold the phone! We are in agreement, Don. I might jeopardise this by asking how much chance you think Carey really has of getting the nod.