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A spinner is putting Steve Smith's spot in the T20 side in jeopardy

9th February, 2018
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Steve Smith has been in average form against the white ball. (AFP PHOTO/ MARWAN NAAMANI)
Expert
9th February, 2018
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Steve Smith may be Australia’s T20 captain, but it’s now arguable whether he is an automatic pick in the national team.

Smith’s record is decidedly poor – an average of 21 at the ordinary strike rate of 122 from his 30 matches. Granted, his appearances have been limited to just ten matches in the past six years, and he has been consistently effective in the Indian Premier League.

But if every player was fit and available, would Smith make Australia’s best line-up? A full-strength XI would likely look like this:

1. Chris Lynn
2. D’Arcy Short
3. David Warner
4. Aaron Finch
5. Glenn Maxwell
6. Alex Carey
7. Ashton Agar
8. Mitchell Starc
9. Nathan Coulter-Nile
10. Adam Zampa
11. Andrew Tye

Australia's Adam Zampa bowls

Adam Zampa (AAP Image/SNPA, John Cowpland)

Were a change to be made to that top six, the most likely alteration would be to remove one of Lynn or Short, reinstate Warner or Finch to the top of the order, and bring in another batsman at three or four.

Even then, Smith would not be the indisputable choice to come in, with Shaun Marsh and Usman Khawaja both extremely strong candidates, and similar T20 batsmen to the skipper.

The other obvious option would be to squeeze in Smith by playing an extra batsman and dropping one of the bowlers. But, thanks to the generous batting ability of Ashton Agar, Australia can afford to play five bowlers in T20s.

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Unlike in ODIs, where a deep batting line-up is highly valuable, allowing the top six to play aggressively, it is far less important in T20s. Rarely do the batsmen at 9-10-11 have a major role to play in the shortest format.

Australia have only been bowled out twice in their past 25 T20s, despite being a poor-performing team during that period, often as a result of fielding second-string line-ups. It would stand to reason that their full-strength team would be even less likely to be bowled out inside 20 overs.

Agar is key to a strategy of playing five bowlers. While he is still in the infancy of his T20 career, with just four matches to his name, he appears to have the makings of a quality T20 bowler.

He is coming off an outstanding Big Bash League campaign in which he incredibly conceded just 5.74 runs per over across nine matches. Only superstar leg-spinner Rashid Khan (5.65rpo) had a better economy rate across the tournament.

The 24-year-old has carried that brilliant form into the ongoing tri-series with New Zealand and England, taking combined figures of 3-37 at an economy rate of just 5.3rpo in the two matches so far. Remarkably, Agar has conceded only one boundary (a four) from seven overs in this series.

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The England and New Zealand batsmen have found it difficult to get after Agar, just as his BBL opponents did. He is not a big turner of the ball and doesn’t possess befuddling variations like Khan, but Agar is relentlessly accurate, maintains a challenging length, earns sharp bounce from his 189cm frame, and varies his pace.

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It is this last attribute which may well be Agar’s most valuable. With no obvious alteration in his action, he is able to send down either a looping 82kmh delivery or a spearing 102kmh ball. These regular changes make it tricky for batsmen to line him up.

On the batting front, Agar is comfortably good enough to bat at seven for Australia, having batted in every position within the top six for the Perth Scorchers over the past four seasons.

This BBL tournament, he was positioned mostly at seven and played numerous valuable cameos, finishing with 149 runs at 50, with a strike rate of 128.

Because of his high-profile international debut as a 19-year-old in the 2013 Ashes, it is easy to forget just how young Agar is. The West Australian is now showing signs he can become a quality limited-overs player, and possibly even a fine successor for Nathan Lyon in the Test team.

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